- Two Viruses Have Been Observed Clinging, Leaving ‘Love Bites’ On Each for the First Time | Weather.com The Weather Channel
- Virus Seen Latching On To Another Virus (Like A Tiny Vampire) For First Time IFLScience
- Vampire viruses prey on other viruses to replicate themselves − and may hold the key to new antiviral therapies The Conversation
- First-ever observation of a virus attaching to another virus Phys.org
- Lovesick: Viruses have been caught leaving ‘love bites’ on each other for the first time ever! Business Insider India
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: bites
‘PAW Patrol 2’ Bites ‘Saw X’ & ‘The Creator’ At Box Office – Saturday AM Update – Deadline
- ‘PAW Patrol 2’ Bites ‘Saw X’ & ‘The Creator’ At Box Office – Saturday AM Update Deadline
- Box Office: ‘PAW Patrol’ Claws Control as ‘Saw’ Rolls to Second, ‘The Creator’ Tapers in Third Variety
- It’s Saw X Vs. Paw Patrol Vs. The Creator In A Weird Weekend Box Office Battle /Film
- ‘Saw X’ Slices Through Tough Competition to Claim Top Spot in Domestic Box Office Debut Collider
- ‘Saw Patrol’ Box Office: How Did ‘Saw X’ & ‘Paw Patrol’ Do? Vulture
- View Full Coverage on Google News
U.K. woman’s dying wish: a funeral dance to ‘Another One Bites the Dust’
Wood, 65, wanted her coffin brought in late, because she never arrived to things on time. She envisioned it colored purple and decorated with letters that read: “Going out in style.” She asked that the funeral celebrant swear as much as possible.
And she wanted a troupe of dancers to crash her funeral, unannounced, and perform a routine to Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust.”
That’s exactly what happened Nov. 4 at a crematorium in Bristol, England, when Ryalls and a group of Wood’s friends managed to arrange a unique send-off that fulfilled her wildest requests.
Midway through the service, Queen’s famous bass line suddenly blared through the hall and several dancers stood up, shrugged off their jackets and launched into a three-minute routine. Video of Wood’s funeral went viral on social media after a BBC report this week captured the scene. Ryalls said it was everything her friend would have wanted.
“She wanted us to remember her for the outrageous person she was,” Ryalls said.
Ryalls, who met Wood on a pub-darts team, called her the life of the party. She recalled her friend dressing in bright colors and telling animated stories from years spent working as a barmaid in pubs across Bristol. Wood loved shoes and insisted her horse-drawn hearse and coffin be decorated with a collection of stilettos, wedges and studded boots.
“She was just a massive character,” Ryalls said.
The dance mob that upstaged her funeral almost didn’t happen. Finding a dance team to take on Wood’s dying request proved difficult, Ryalls said. She was turned down by 10 groups, some of whom called the proposal disrespectful. In desperation, she posted a request on Facebook.
When cabaret dancer Claire Phipps saw the post, she couldn’t believe her luck.
“All summer I’d been chatting to people about really wanting to do a funeral,” Phipps told The Post. “But everyone looked at me like I was mad, like that was never going to happen.”
Phipps, who runs a Bristol dance troupe called the Flaming Feathers, said she was excited to take on the challenge. After receiving Wood’s song request, the group, which typically performs at cabarets and festivals, choreographed a routine and rehearsed for several weeks.
Then they sneaked into Wood’s funeral ahead of the crowd to snag the right seats.
“It was nerve wracking,” Phipps said. “Because we didn’t know how it would be taken.”
By the end of the song, to Phipps’s relief, people were clapping and laughing.
Wood died of tongue cancer in September, seven months after her February diagnosis. She’d already been struggling with a hepatitis C infection, Ryalls said, after being treated decades ago with contaminated blood by Britain’s National Health Service, part of a national scandal that prompted a public inquiry in 2019.
Wood’s battle with cancer was painful, Ryalls said. But her sense of humor kept her going.
“She was dying,” Ryalls said. “And she would say that medicine is laughter.”
It was also medicine for those closest to Wood. Mark Wood, Sandie’s husband, didn’t know about her outlandish plans either, he told The Post. At the funeral, he was consumed by grief and couldn’t focus. Then the music started playing — Sandie’s music.
“I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my Sandie,’” Mark said. “There was a big smile on my face because that was her. She didn’t want me to know that because she wanted to surprise me. And boy, didn’t she do it?”
The funeral lifted Mark Wood’s spirits. Sandie was “one in a million,” he said, and he’s still struggling to sleep since her death. He expressed frustration over the NHS scandal that sickened Sandie. The British government announced in August that affected patients would receive about $122,000 in compensation, but Mark Wood said he wished the government would also apologize.
But he said Sandie got the send-off she deserved.
“If she’s up there looking down, she’d be smiling, ” Mark said.
Sandie asked that her loved ones end the funeral by exiting in a conga line, Ryalls said, which everyone happily obliged. After the excitement, she had one final wish: that her funeral make news headlines around the world.
“The last wish that we couldn’t achieve has actually happened,” Ryalls said. “It’s incredible.”
The owner of Uniqlo is boosting pay for Japan employees by up to 40% as inflation bites
Hong Kong
CNN
—
Fast Retailing, the Japanese giant that owns popular clothing brands Uniqlo and Theory, will start paying its employees much more this year.
The company announced Wednesday that it would boost salaries in Japan by up to 40%, acknowledging that “remuneration levels have remained low” in the country in recent years.
“This will include employees from headquarters and corporate departments responsible for the functions of the company’s global headquarters, as well as employees working in stores,” the firm said in a statement.
The move comes just days after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called on business leaders to accelerate raises for workers, warning that the economy risked falling into stagflation if wage rises continued to fall behind price increases.
Japan is grappling with the biggest drop in living standards in nearly a decade.
Last Friday, the world’s third largest economy reported its worst real-wage decline in more than eight years, exacerbating conditions for workers already contending with higher costs of living.
In the capital of Tokyo, core inflation, which measures items excluding fresh food, climbed 4% in December compared to a year ago, above the 3.8% expected by economists, according to official figures released Tuesday.
That was “the highest seen in 40 years,” analysts at Nomura said in a Wednesday report.
“Inflation in Japan is a factor in our considerations,” a Fast Retailing spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday.
But the company is generally more focused on aligning “each employee’s remuneration with global standards, to be able to increase our competitiveness,” the representative added.
The company will officially adjust its overall compensation system in March. Starting salaries for entry-level university graduates will jump by roughly 18%, while new store managers could see a hike of approximately 36%, according to the company.
The retailer has also been hiking pay for staff in some of its overseas markets, leading to pay bumps ranging from 5% to 25%, the spokesperson said.
Brother and Sister Die From Rabies After Multiple Bites From ‘Wild Animal’
Two children have died within days of each other after being bitten by a rabid wild animal, suspected to be a bat, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
The state health department confirmed the death of an 8-year-old girl from the town of Palo de Lima on Saturday. The patient had been receiving care at the Doctor Aurelio Valdivieso General Hospital in the state capital.
The death comes after the girl’s 7-year-old brother passed away as a result of a rabies infection on December 28.
Rabies is a serious viral disease that affects the brain and spinal cord of mammals. The virus is usually transmitted to humans via the bite of an infected animal.
iStock
Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that human rabies cases are extremely rare in the United States, with one to three reported every year on average. Exposure to infected bats is the leading cause of human rabies deaths in the U.S., accounting for around 70 percent of fatalities.
But the disease still causes almost 60,000 deaths annually around the world—primarily as a result of exposure to rabid dogs—with the vast majority of cases occurring in Asia and Africa.
Rabies is preventable if treatment is administered promptly following exposure, but once symptoms appear, the disease is almost always fatal in humans.
The CDC says it typically takes between three weeks and three months for rabies symptoms to develop depending on factors such as the specific type of virus in question and how far away the site of exposure is from the brain.
Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) shots are nearly 100 percent effective at preventing the disease if the treatment is administered before symptom onset.
In the case of the deaths in Oaxaca, the children are believed to have been bitten on December 1 but they were not taken to a medical clinic until around three weeks later, Dr. Concepción Rocío Arias Cruz, the director of the hospital, told the Milenio Televisión news station.
At this point, it was too late to save the siblings. The 2-year-old sister of the siblings was also bitten in the same incident but she received treatment and has not displayed signs of rabies.
The 8-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital on December 21 with health complications after being bitten by a “wild animal” and was in a “serious condition,” the Oaxaca health department said in a statement.
“During her stay at the [Doctor Aurelio Valdivieso General Hospital], a group of multidisciplinary specialists were monitoring the patient at all times; however, she suffered irreparable damage to her health resulting in the unfortunate death of the minor,” the statement said.
Following the first child’s death, health authorities in Oaxaca traveled to the remote town of Palo de Lima to vaccinate dogs and cats against rabies
Newsweek reached out to the state health department of Oaxaca for comment.
Core Scientific files for bankruptcy as crypto winter bites
Dec 21 (Reuters) – Core Scientific Inc (CORZ.O), one of the biggest publicly traded cryptocurrency mining companies in the United States, said on Wednesday it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the latest in a string of failures to hit the sector.
Austin, Texas-based Core Scientific attributed its bankruptcy to slumping bitcoin prices, rising energy costs for bitcoin mining and a $7 million unpaid debt from U.S. crypto lender Celsius Network, one of its biggest customers.
Core Scientific said in court filings that it had suffered a net loss of $434.8 million for the three months ending September 30, 2022, and had just $4 million in liquidity at the time of its bankruptcy filing.
The company engaged restructuring advisers in October and has been negotiating with creditors about a potential bankruptcy filing since that time.
More than a trillion dollars in value has been wiped out from the crypto sector this year with rising interest rates exacerbating worries of an economic downturn. The crash has eliminated key industry players such as crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and Celsius.
The biggest blow came after major crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Its swift fall has sparked tough regulatory scrutiny of how crypto firms hold funds and conduct business operations.
After rapid growth in 2020 and 2021, bitcoin – the most popular digital currency by far – is down more than 60% this year, pressuring the crypto mining sector.
Processing bitcoin transactions and “mining” new tokens is done by powerful computers, hooked up to a global network, that compete against others to solve complex mathematical puzzles.
But the business has become less profitable as the price of bitcoin has slumped, while energy costs have soared.
Celsius, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, owns several bitcoin mining rigs hosted at Core Scientific’s facilities. Celsius’s bankruptcy has prevented Core Scientific from collecting on higher energy bills that the company is racking up at a rate of $900,000 per month, according to court filings.
Core Scientific said it would not liquidate, and intends to pursue a restructuring backed by creditors who hold over 50% of the company’s convertible notes.
Those creditors have agreed to provide up to $56 million in debtor-in-possession financing, and convertible noteholders would ultimately end up with 97% of Core Scientific’s equity shares if the restructuring is approved in court.
The company’s shares have lost roughly 98% of their value so far in 2022, shrinking its market cap to about $78 million.
The stock fell another 50% in trading on Wednesday. Shares of other crypto miners including Riot Blockchain (RIOT.O), Marathon Digital (MARA.O) and Hut 8 Mining Corp have all shed more than 80% this year.
In its bankruptcy petition, Core Scientific said it has $1 billion to $10 billion in assets and liabilities, and between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors.
Core Scientific went public in 2021 through a merger with a blank-check company in a deal that at the time valued the miner at $4.3 billion.
Core Scientific’s first bankruptcy court hearing has been set for Dec. 21 at 0915 CT (1515 GMT).
Reporting by Siddharth Jindal, Maria Ponnezhath, Akriti Sharma and Manya Saini in Bengaluru, and Dietrich Knauth in New York and Hannah Lang in Washington; editing by Uttaresh.V, Maju Samuel, Alexia Garamfalvi and Deepa Babington
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Brown recluse bites caused two people’s blood cells to self-destruct
Two people who were bitten by brown recluse spiders developed a rare condition in which their immune systems destroyed their red blood cells, a new case report shows.
In the first case, a 30-year-old man came to the hospital because he was nauseous, vomiting, had muscle aches, and had a painful lesion on his left shoulder. In the other case, a 28-year-old woman came in for bad low back pain. They both had strange-looking lesions. The man’s, on his left shoulder, was small and irregularly shaped, with a black scabby portion on one side; the woman’s, on her upper back, was target-shaped and larger. Both were painful to the touch.
In both cases, doctors noticed that the whites of the patients’ eyes were yellowish. The condition, called scleral icterus, is caused by a buildup of a pigment called bilirubin in the blood, which is made when red blood cells break down.
Based on blood testing, both patients were diagnosed with a condition called warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia — something was causing their immune systems to destroy their red blood cells. In both cases, that something was systemic loxoscelism, a body-wide reaction to a bite from the venomous Loxosceles reclusa spider, otherwise known as the brown recluse.
Though brown recluse bites can be painless, the bite can become itchy, red, and inflamed shortly after the bite occurs, according to the National Capital Poison Center (opens in new tab) (NCPC). It may eventually become more painful, darker, and form a blister. A bite can also cause necrosis, or tissue death, surrounding it, and can eventually form a black, scab-like area called an eschar. Brown recluse bites are difficult to diagnose, according to the NCPC — doctors make the diagnosis based on a patient’s history and symptoms, if they have any.
Related: The 11 deadliest spiders
The patients in the report were treated with intravenous fluids and corticosteroids, which suppress the immune system. Both were also given blood transfusions, and eventually recovered enough to leave the hospital.
The man’s recovery was uncomplicated, the woman’s less so for reasons apparently unrelated to her spider bite. She was six weeks pregnant and had a miscarriage, and also developed a brain condition called acute metabolic-toxic encephalopathy while in the hospital. This condition can also be caused by withdrawal from alcohol and drugs, and the woman had a history of drug abuse. But she eventually also recovered enough to be discharged with oral corticosteroids.
The treatment course went well for these patients: some people who develop autoimmune hemolytic anemia must take a blood cancer drug with potentially severe side effects if corticosteroids don’t work, and some may even need to have the spleen removed, according to the study.
The brown recluse spider, a small, brownish or tan spider with a dark brown “violin-shaped” marking on its head, lives in several parts of the United States, but is most common in Texas, Missouri, and Illinois.
Most people shouldn’t lose sleep worrying about brown recluse bites, as they are rare, and 90% of them don’t cause any major complications.
Children, as well as African American and Hispanic people, are at greater risk for having systemic reactions, according to the study. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reported (opens in new tab) that in 2019, out of 802 reported brown recluse bites, only 24 people had major reactions, and no deaths were reported.
The brown recluse bites were described in a report published in the journal Hematology (opens in new tab).
New device may offer a better way to prevent tick bites
PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269150″ width=”800″ height=”530″/>
The controlled-release device (CRD). Credit: PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269150
When it comes to preventing tick bites—especially in light of the dramatic, decade-long rise in tick-borne diseases—bug sprays help but are less than optimal.
For example, DEET was designed to keep quick-moving mosquitoes from landing on their host, where they bite and fly off in seconds. Ticks, on the other hand, don’t fly, but rather ambush and then climb slowly up their host until they embed, feed and may remain for days.
“Unfortunately, most repellents were developed for mosquitoes 75-plus years ago and not for ticks,” says vector-borne disease expert Stephen Rich, professor of microbiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and executive director of the UMass Amherst-based New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC). “DEET, the gold standard, works fairly well, but a holy grail would be to have another repellency tool—not a contact repellent like DEET but a spatial repellent—that works as good as or better than DEET against ticks.”
Experiments at Rich’s Laboratory of Medical Zoology used a new controlled-release device developed by scientist-entrepreneur Noel Elman. Rich and colleagues tested the effects on ticks after releasing the synthetic pyrethroids transfluthrin and metofluthrin into a small, transparent chamber equipped with three vertical climbing sticks. Ticks don’t come in direct contact with the repellents; rather, the active ingredients create more of a “force field” that alters and slows the ticks’ progress toward their target.
The results, published today, Nov. 8, in the journal PLOS ONE, found that the two spatial repellents were effective at changing the behavior of ticks, making them less likely to climb vertically and more likely to detach or fall off the stick.
“While we still have much work to do, these innovative findings prove the principle that these spatial repellents alter the behavior in ticks in a way we hope will lead to fewer tick bites,” says Rich, senior author.
The paper’s lead author, Eric Siegel, helped design the vision system that precisely tracked tick movement in the experiment chamber. “People throw the word ‘repellency’ around a lot, and we made it a goal to redefine repellency in tick protection and find ways to measure it,” says Siegel, a lab technician about to begin his Ph.D. studies in microbiology under Rich. “There’s so much we still don’t know about tick olfactory [smell] and gustatory [taste] mechanisms, and this was the biggest challenge in these experiments, as is the case overall in the development of protective products.”
The compounds were tested against the three main human-biting ticks in the U.S.: I. scapularis (black-legged or deer tick), which can spread Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, among other diseases; D. variabilis (American dog tick), which can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia; and A. americanum (lone star tick), which can spread ehrlichiosis and has been associated with an allergy to red meat.
The experiments found that transfluthrin deterred 75% of D. variabilis, 67% of A. Americanum and 50% of I. scapularis. Metofluthrin was slightly more effective, deterring 81% of D. variabilis, 73% of A. americanum and 72% of I. scapularis.
“We were impressed with not just the repellency but the behavioral changes in the tick,” says co-author Elman, founder and CEO of GearJump Technologies, who designed a controlled-release device that can attach to the boot of soldiers. Many of the ticks in the experiments became slower-moving, less mobile, and appeared to be in a “drunken-like state,” according to the paper.
Elman approached Rich a few years ago to design and run experiments using the device with various repellents. A next step is to conduct experiments with actual animal hosts.
“Repellents probably won’t stop ticks from getting on us,” Rich says. “We hope the repellents will help keep them from staying on us, and that’s where the battle lines really should be drawn.”
The researchers can envision a day when such devices will be commercially available to the general population. Until then, the research will continue. “We still mostly don’t know how the chemicals we use work,” Siegel says. “When we do, we can develop and refine these measures in a more targeted way.”
More information:
Eric L. Siegel et al, Spatial repellents transfluthrin and metofluthrin affect the behavior of Dermacentor variabilis, Amblyomma americanum, and Ixodes scapularis in an in vitro vertical climb assay, PLOS ONE (2022). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0269150
Provided by
University of Massachusetts Amherst
Citation:
New device may offer a better way to prevent tick bites (2022, November 8)
retrieved 9 November 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-11-device.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Lawmaker introduces rabies bill after rabid fox bites his leg
A California lawmaker who was bit by a fox is hoping to use his medical scare to get legislation passed that would bring down the cost of the life-saving rabies vaccine.
Rep Ami Bera, a physician who represents California’s 7th District, said while introducing the legislation on Wednesday – timed to align with World Rabies Day – that he only became aware of the high cost of the rabies treatment after he was wounded by a fox while walking on Capitol Hill.
“Despite being a fatal disease, rabies is preventable if treated quickly,” the California Democrat said in a statement Wednesday.
“After being bit by a rabid fox, I was fortunate to have access to readily available and low-cost vaccines. But for too many Americans, the costs of treatment would break their banks.”
Mr Bera, like others who are harmed by a wild animal, was treated with both a regimen of rabies shots and immunoglobulin. While most patients will go through a series of shots to treat the possible onset of the disease, immunoglobulin is only delivered once at the first appointment, as it serves as a temporary layover to kick the immune system into overdrive until the rabies medication begins taking effect.
The wild animal that bit Mr Bera back in April was first mistaken by the lawmaker as a small dog. It wasn’t until he turned around that he realised that it was a potentially rabid fox that had latched onto his back leg.
He was able to keep the animal from doing further harm to his body by using his umbrella as a makeshift weapon that he successfully used to shove the animal off.
A fox was later caught on the Capitol grounds after there had been several reported sightings of one prowling the area, and at least a couple others reporting that they too had been bit, The Washington Post reported.
While it’s unclear whether the captured fox was the same as the one that attacked the Democratic congressman, Mr Bera says that the incident has brought to light an issue he realises now is impacting more Americans than most likely assume.
“For uninsured Americans, costs for these life-saving vaccines could reach upwards of $7k. This is unacceptable,” tweeted the California congressman when introducing the Affordable Rabies Treatment for Uninsured Act on Wednesday.
Based on estimates from the Centers for Diseases and Control and Prevention, each year approximately 60,000 Americans will receive post exposure prophylaxis (PEP), which on the first day consists of one immunoglobulin dose and one rabies vaccine and is then followed up with three shots of the rabies medication on days 3, 7 and 14.
While the congressman said in his statement introducing the bill that costs for patients for the life-savings vaccine can range from $1,200 to $6,500, a Vox investigation from 2018 found that the entire invoice from a person’s trip to the emergency room – including the vaccines – can actually top out at closer to $10,000.
That investigation found that the problem of the high costs for patients arises from two factors. The first one being that the life-saving treatment itself is among the most expensive in the developed world.
According to the British National Formulary, one vial of rabies immunoglobulin costs £600, or $813, in the UK. With most adult-sized men requiring two vials, the total cost of the initial treatment would be $1,626, which is both a fraction of what American pharmaceuticals charge and is, importantly, covered for all patients through the country’s universal healthcare.
The second factor that brings the price of treating rabies up is the fact that it is most commonly administered in emergency rooms, as, according to data from Amino, that’s where 95 percent of post-exposure rabies treatment happens because that’s where most of the vials are stored.
Facility fees at emergency rooms, the flat rate that patients are normally charged just when they walk through the doors of a facility, can start at just a couple hundred dollars.
And since the treatment schedule for rabies requires multiple visits for each round of shots, patients are stepping across the threshold of the ER at least four times, each time racking up more and more “facility fees” since most primary care doctors wouldn’t have the drugs on their shelf.
For Mr Bera’s bill, it would allow for program-registered providers to submit claims to the secretary of Health and Human Services, which would then pay back providers who are providing the PEP services to uninsured patients.
“My legislation would seek to reduce the high costs of treatment for uninsured Americans, ensuring that no one has to choose between receiving treatment or not because of high costs,” Mr Bera said. “I encourage all Americans to remain vigilant around wild animals and to seek medical attention if bitten or scratched. Costs should never be a barrier for individuals seeking life-saving treatment.”
5 Unexpected Reasons You Get So Many Mosquito Bites: Blood Type, Clothing and More
While summer is by far my favorite season, fall is a close second. The moderate temperatures and decreased humidity means I can spend more time outside doing things I love: hiking, walking and spending time at the lake. But that time in nature is promptly spoiled when I find myself covered in red, itchy lumps after spending just a few minutes outdoors. Because even though fall is almost here, pesky mosquitos are still active until early November.
If you’re like me, you get frustrated by the number of mosquito bites that appear all over your body, making you feel like scratching the skin around the bite until you reach bone. While the bites alone can be annoying, it’s just downright infuriating when I come inside sporting several new bright-red welts while my friends so kindly report how they don’t have a single one.
Why is that? It’s not that we’re particularly unlucky. There are actually scientific reasons why mosquitoes single out certain people. Here’s exactly why mosquitoes bite, and how you can make yourself less of a target this season and beyond. (You can also find out how to easily remove ticks without tweezers.)
Why do mosquitoes bite?
Contrary to what you might think, mosquitoes don’t bite people for food — they feed on plant nectar. Only female mosquitoes bite, and they do so to receive proteins from your blood needed to develop their eggs.
Why are some people more prone to bites?
There are several factors that impact why some people are more prone to mosquito bites than others:
Blood type
A common belief is that mosquitoes are attracted to certain blood types, considering mosquitoes bite humans for their blood. Blood type is determined by genetics, and each blood type is created based on the different sets of specific proteins, called antigens, on the surface of red blood cells. There are four main blood types: A, B, AB and O.
While there are no firm conclusions as to which blood type is more attractive to mosquitoes, several studies have suggested people with type O are most appetizing to mosquitoes. A 2019 study observed mosquito feeding behavior when presented with different blood type samples, and found mosquitoes fed from the type O feeder more than any other. A 2004 study also found that mosquitoes land on blood group O secretors (83.3%) significantly more than group A secretors (46.5%).
However, these studies are not definitive, and much is still up in the air about mosquito preferences when it comes to blood type.
Clothing color
Mosquitoes are highly visual hunters when it comes to finding a human to bite. This means movement and dark clothing colors like black, navy and red can stand out to a mosquito. Research has shown that mosquitoes are more attracted to the color black, but there has been little additional research into why this is the case.
Carbon dioxide
Mosquitoes use sight and smell to find hosts to bite. One of the quickest ways mosquitoes can sniff out a person is through the carbon dioxide emitted when we breathe. According to research published in the journal Chemical Senses, mosquitoes use an organ called a maxillary palp for carbon dioxide detection and can sense it from 164 feet away.
Because carbon dioxide is a huge attractor, people who emit more of it — larger individuals and people who are breathing heavily when working out — are more attractive to a mosquito.
Body odor and sweat
Mosquitoes are attracted to more substances and compounds than just carbon dioxide. Mosquitoes can find people to bite by smelling substances present on human skin and in sweat, including lactic acid, uric acid and ammonia.
Researchers are still learning why certain body odors are more attractive to mosquitoes, but they do know that genetics, bacteria on the skin and exercise all play a factor. Genetics impact the amount of uric acid emitted, while exercise increases lactic acid buildup.
Beer
In a small study, mosquitoes were observed to land on participants more frequently after they had drunk a small amount of beer. But before you swear off beer for good, know that the study only had 14 participants, and it found that mosquitoes may only be marginally more attracted to people who have been drinking beer.
The size and severity of a bite relate to how your immune system responds to the saliva introduced by the mosquito when it bites.
Suriyawut Suriya/EyeEm/Getty Images
Why do some people swell from mosquito bites more than others?
Mosquito bites can range in size from small little spots to large welts. Why is this the case?
Bites affect people differently. The size and severity of a bite relate to how your immune system responds to the saliva introduced by the mosquito when it bites. When mosquitoes bite, they inject some saliva when drawing blood. This saliva contains certain anticoagulants and proteins, triggering the immune system to respond to these foreign substances.
Our body responds by releasing histamine — a chemical that is released by white blood cells when your immune system is fighting against allergens — which causes the itchiness and inflammation of the bite.
Prevention and treatment of mosquito bites
The best way to handle a mosquito bite is to not get them in the first place — but often times, that’s easier said than done.
Some common ways to prevent mosquito bites include:
- Use repellents and bug sprays (Repel, Off! Deep Woods, and other brands that contain DEET)
- Use natural repellants (citronella essential oil, neem oil, thyme essential oil)
- Avoid going outside at dawn or dusk
- Avoid dark-colored clothing, specifically black
- Avoid standing water and try to eliminate standing water near your home
- Use mosquito netting when camping or sleeping outdoors
Repellants are highly effective in preventing mosquito bites.
Amanda Capritto/CNET
Mosquito bites, while annoying, are often not severe and will resolve in a few days. In the meantime, there are several treatments to alleviate the itchiness and inflammation:
- Clean with rubbing alcohol if a fresh bite
- Take an oatmeal bath
- Use over-the-counter antihistamines such as Benadryl or Claritin
- Apply mild corticosteroid creams
- Use aloe vera to reduce inflammation
- Try a cold compress
Though difficult, try as best you can to not itch the bite too roughly to prevent any sort of skin reaction or infection.
For more, read about the five smart ways to repel mosquitoes this summer, the mosquito forecast tool launched by Google and Off, and how you can make your own DIY traps for mosquitoes, hornets and other flying pests.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.