system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can blood ingesting insects "smell" blood and have a preference?

I have always been a target for flees, mosquitoes, and any other blood drinking insect. I am the first to be bit multiple times before others in the same area. What could it be to attract them? Is it the fragrance off my skin or hidden factors they can tell about my blood to prefer it?


Story time: I was on a trip with my mother to a plot of river side land in Texas. In less than 2 days my body attracted every type of blood sucking insect. Horse flies, redbugs, flees, ticks, mosquitoes, and probably more had ravaged my skin resulting in red itchy bumps all on my legs where as my mother, who stayed outside, received a fraction  of that. I used so much mosquito repellent I was afraid of developing respiratory problems or be poisoned. 

Another time was walking through a house with multiple animals. Passing the carpet once resulted in up to 6 flees on my ankles before those who I was with felt one.
gpt
There are various physiological factors that determine your likelihood of getting bitten.


* Blood type: Several studies have found that individuals with blood type O are at a greater risk, much more so than individuals with type A, B, or AB^1,2.


* Higher production of carbon dioxide will also attract a higher number of mosquitoes. In fact, traps are often equipped with CO2 tanks to be more effective^3,5.


* Production of certain acids on the skin such as lactic acid will contribute to one's attractiveness^4


* On average, men are more readily bitten than women.^6,7. However, it has been found that pregnant women are more likely to get bitten than non-pregnant women.^8,9.

**Citations**


1) Wood, Corrine Shear, and Dore, Caroline. 1972. “Selective Feeding of Anopheles gambiae according to ABO Blood Group Status.” Nature 239: 165.

2) Yoshikazu Shiraia, et al. 2004. "Landing Preference of Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae) on Human Skin Among ABO Blood Groups, Secretors or Nonsecretors, and ABH Antigens." Journal of Medical Entomology 41(4):796-799.

3) Dekker, T. and Takken, W. 1998. "Differential responses of mosquito sibling species Anopheles arabiensis and An. quadriannulatusto carbon dioxide, a man or a calf." Medical and Veterinary Entomology, 12: 136–140

4) Steib, Birgit M., Geier, Martin, and Boeckh, Jurgen. 2001. "The Effect of Lactic Acid on Odour-Related Host Preference of Yellow Fever Mosquitoes" Chemical Senses 26: 523-538.

5) Geier, Martin, et al. "Odour-guided Host Finding of Mosquitoes: Identification of New Attractants on Human Skin." 4th International Conference on Urban pests. (Oral Presentation).

6) Clements, A.N. 1963. "The Physiology of Mosquitoes." Oxford Pergamon Press.

7) Gilbert, I.H., Gouck H.K., Smith N. 1966. "Attractiveness of men and women to
Aedes aegypti and relative protection time obtained with DEET." Florida Entomologist, 49: 53-66.

8) Lindsay S., Ansell J., Selman C., Cox V., Hamilton K., Walraven G. 2000. "Effect of pregnancy on exposure to malaria mosquitoes." Lancet: 355(9219):1972.

9) Himeidan Y.E., Elbashir M.I., Adam I. 2004. "Attractiveness of pregnant women to the malaria vector, Anopheles arabiensis, in Sudan." Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology, 98: 631-633(3)

Edit: Additional factors included.