Man's Reaction to Mosquito Bites

Abstract

THE question of the relative attractiveness to biting insects of different individuals is an interesting one. It was considered possible that some individuals would be relatively or completely unattractive to mosquitoes, and some experiments were initiated by the Army Malaria Research Unit during the War. I was responsible for carrying out the entomological side of this investigation. Working with Aëdes "gypti and Anopheles maculipennis atroparvus, we never found any person who was completely un-unattractive; in fact, when hungry mosquitoes were given the opportunity of biting, they appeared to feed on every individual with equal readiness. It should be noted that in these experiments no alternative source of food was available.