Mosquitoes bite! 5 tips for making yourself less attractive to them

By Lauren KIm

(CNN) — For summertime beachgoers, the threat of sharks may loom large, but nature’s deadliest predator is actually much smaller.

The tiny mosquito is not only a warm-weather nuisance but also wears the crown for “No. 1 killer of humanity across our existence,” according to historian Dr. Timothy C. Winegard. The predatory insect takes more than 1 million lives each year by transmitting lethal diseases. Sharks, meanwhile, are estimated to have a kill streak orders of magnitude smaller, at fewer than 10 people per year.

Where humans go, mosquitoes have followed. Their itchy bites and the disease-causing pathogens they carry are infamous, and the insects are also responsible for driving many of humanity’s most essential turning points throughout history, said Winegard, author of “The Mosquito: A Human History of Our Deadliest Predator.”

“Malaria and yellow fever (have shaped) our historical journey from our hominid ancestral evolution … right to present day,” Winegard told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently on his podcast, Chasing Life.

Winegard, an associate professor of history at Colorado Mesa University, got the initial idea for his best-selling book from his dad’s interest in malaria.

The wee pest didn’t intrigue Winegard too much at first. “I kind of disparaged him and said, ‘Sure, dad, I’ll write a book on mosquitoes,’” he recalled. But once Winegard began going down the rabbit hole of mosquito-borne pathogens’ impact on humanity — including, but not limited to malaria, Zika virus, dengue fever, yellow fever, chikungunya and West Nile virus — he couldn’t stop.

The mosquito’s impact on history is still deeply felt in the present. More than half a million people die of malaria alone each year, and disease-heavy regions have suffered financially as a result. “Northern Hemisphere countries don’t have endemic malaria, (so) they’re able to develop more affluent economies because they’re not continuously suffering from malaria,” Winegard said.

You can listen to the full episode here.

Humans have been battling mosquitoes for millennia, and amid the season’s summer peak in the Northern Hemisphere, Winegard offered some insight into how you can keep them away this summer.

“Eighty-five percent of what makes you alluring or less alluring to mosquitoes is prewired in your genetic circuit board,” according to Winegard. However, there are a few ways you can manage mosquitoes. He has these five tips.

Steer clear of the booze

Booze makes it easier for mosquitoes to see you, Winegard said.

Mosquitoes hunt by sight, but they don’t see the world like people do. The predatory insects employ thermal, or infrared, vision. “They see heat signatures,” Winegard noted.

“Consuming alcohol raises your body temperature,” he explained over email, “which make(s) you an identifiable heat signature for your soon-to-be tormentor.”

So, maybe reach for a refreshing glass of water or lemonade instead of that beer.

Play it cool

In addition to using heat-based vision, mosquitoes hunt down humans primarily through smell.

Winegard said mosquitoes “can smell carbon dioxide from over 200 feet (60 meters) away.”

“So if you’re exercising or breathing heavily, they’ll smell that and be attracted to it,” Winegard told Gupta.

And just like alcohol, high CO2 emissions make detecting heat signatures easier for mosquitoes, so Winegard recommends keeping yourself as cool as possible.

This applies to your wardrobe, too. “Dark clothes retain relatively more heat,” he said, so it’s best to opt for lighter-colored, long-sleeved attire to keep mosquitoes at bay.

Build a strong suit of armor

Applying insect repellent is the gold standard for mosquito management, but if you’re not careful when applying it, you can leave yourself vulnerable to bites.

“I know people who lather themselves in it, but they miss this little spot on the back of their calf and she’ll find the chink in our armor,” Winegard told Gupta, referring to the female mosquito, who is the bloodsucking hunter.

Mosquito repellent isn’t like perfume, in which a few spritzes can cover your whole body. If you’re spraying, make sure to be thorough.

“DEET (a chemical repellent) is still the gold standard, while oil of lemon eucalyptus is a plant-derived option,” Winegard said.

For an added boost of security, he noted some clothes come pretreated with a mosquito-targeted insecticide called permethrin.

Watch the water!

Pool days and cool drinks outdoors offer a respite from the heat for humans, but they are equally as attractive to mosquitoes. Female mosquitoes lay their eggs in still water — and they don’t need much.

“From a pond or stream to a minuscule collection in the bottom of an old container, used tire, or backyard toy — even a bottle cap full — any will suffice,” Winegard said via email. Even waterlogged soil is enough for mom-to-be mosquitoes to lay their eggs in, he added.

Winegard recommended eliminating standing water around your home and yard to keep potential mosquito breeding grounds to a minimum.

Bring on the bacteria (but consider a foot bath)

Another way to fight the swarms this summer is to consider skipping a shower or two.

“It’s better to be stinky!” Winegard said. “Being pungently rancid is a good thing, for it increases bacterial levels on the skin, which makes you less alluring to mosquitoes.”

While this may offend others, Winegard says to skip the scented products: Deodorants, soaps and other applied fragrances are all enticing to mosquitoes.

The one exception is your feet. “Clean your feet,” he told Gupta. “The bacteria on our feet, which is the same one that ripens a lot of cheeses, is an aphrodisiac to mosquitoes.”

Winegard noted that this is the reason many of us get bitten around our ankles and feet. “So, wash your feet!” he urged.

Check your blood type

Mosquitoes don’t care about most personal characteristics you can objectively see.

“There is absolutely no truth to the persistent myths that mosquitoes fancy females over males, that they prefer blondes and redheads over those with darker hair, or that the darker or more leathery your skin, the safer you are from her bite,” Winegard said.

But he noted that “she does play favorites and feasts on some more than others.”

What might entice a mosquito? “Blood type O seems to be the vintage of choice over types A and B or their blend,” he said. “People with blood type O get bitten twice as often as those with type A, with type B falling somewhere in between.”

The creators of the 1998 movie “A Bug’s Life,” he noted, must have “done their homework when portraying a tipsy mosquito ordering a ‘Bloody Mary, O-positive.’”

Maybe it’s a mosquito’s world, Winegard suggests, and people are just living in it.

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