NEW YORK (AP) — A new study reveals that some people really are “mosquito magnets” and it likely has to do with their smell.

Researchers have found that people who are most attractive to mosquitoes produce a lot of certain chemicals on their skin that are linked to smell. And bad news for mosquito magnets: bloodsuckers stick to their favorites over time.

“If you have high levels of this stuff on your skin, you’ll be the one at the picnic who gets all the bites,” said study author Leslie Vosshall, a neurobiologist at Rockefeller University. At New York.

There’s a lot of folklore about who gets bitten the most, but many claims aren’t supported by solid evidence, Vosshall said.

To test mosquito magnetism, the researchers designed an experiment that pitted people’s scents against each other, said study author Maria Elena De Obaldia. Their findings were published Tuesday in the journal Cell.

They asked 64 volunteers from the university and surrounding areas to wear nylon stockings around their forearms to catch their skin scents. The stockings were placed in separate traps at the end of a long tube, and then dozens of mosquitoes were released.

“They would basically branch out to the most appealing topics,” De Obaldia said. “It became very obvious right away.”

The scientists held a round robin and ended up with a striking discrepancy: the largest mosquito magnet was about 100 times more attractive to mosquitoes than the last.

The experiment used the Aedes aegypti mosquito which spreads diseases like yellow fever, Zika and dengue fever. Vosshall said she would expect similar results from other types, but would need more research to confirm.

By testing the same people over multiple years, the study showed that these large differences persist, said Matt DeGennaro, a neurogeneticist at Florida International University who was not involved in the research.

“Mosquito magnets seem to stay mosquito magnets,” DeGennaro said.

Among the favorites, the researchers found a common factor: Mosquito magnets had high levels of certain acids on their skin. These “fat molecules” are part of the skin’s natural moisturizing layer and people produce them in different amounts, Vosshall said. Healthy bacteria that live on the skin eat these acids and produce part of our skin’s odor profile, she said.

You can’t get rid of these acids without also harming the health of your skin, said Vosshall, who is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and serves as its scientific director. The institute also supports the Health and Science department of the Associated Press.

But the research could help find new ways to repel mosquitoes, said Jeff Riffell, a neurobiologist at the University of Washington who was not involved in the study. There may be ways to tinker with skin bacteria and change the tantalizing smells of humans, he said.

Still, finding ways to fight mosquitoes isn’t easy, Riffell said, because the creatures have evolved into “lean, nasty biting machines.”

The study proved this point: the researchers also experimented with mosquitoes whose genes were altered to damage their sense of smell. Bugs always flocked to the same mosquito magnets.

“Mosquitoes are resilient,” Vosshall said. “They have many back-up plans so they can find us and bite us.”

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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