# Not true! Mosquito bite vs blood type (expanded title) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177 "2009-08-29T18:16:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![asright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6de8d8/32.png) [@asright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asright)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/1 "2009-08-29T18:16:15Z")
Hey, what gives? You have reported falsely on the mosquito favoritism! The researchers never contacted me! As far as mosquitoes go, I am better than fresh, hot, fried chicken smothered with honey! I don’t have type O blood. Did the researchers only use type O and A? Not a very good scientific test if they did. I am type AB positive. Do other type AB’s have the same problem? * * * Link to column: [Do mosquitoes prefer certain blood types? Plus: Do tall men get more skin cancer? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2891/do-mosquitoes-prefer-certain-blood-types-plus) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/2 "2009-08-29T18:47:14Z")
So how long to the bumps last and where are you? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/3 "2009-08-29T20:42:11Z")
> [@asright](#): > > Hey, what gives? You have reported falsely on the mosquito favoritism! The researchers never contacted me! As far as mosquitoes go, I am better than fresh, hot, fried chicken smothered with honey! I don’t have type O blood. > > Did the researchers only use type O and A? Not a very good scientific test if they did. I am type AB positive. Do other type AB’s have the same problem? ab negative, skeeter magnet. I can look like that poor guy in the repellent commercial with the arm covered in skeeters if I go outside with no repellent on :smack: Most of the time, I just don’t bother going outside in skeeter season. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/4 "2009-08-30T00:58:47Z")
**asright** , welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, glad to have you here. When you start a thread, it’s helpful to other readers to provide a link to the relevant column. Saves searching time and helps keep us all on the same page. Yeah, at the moment, it’s on the front page, but in a few days it will vanish into the archives and folks won’t know what the heck you’re talking about. No biggie, you’ll know for next time, and I’ve added a link at the bottom of your post. And, as I say, welcome! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/5 "2009-08-30T01:19:44Z")
Thanks, Dex. Now, in reference to the link, what the hell is a secretor, someone whose blood type shows up in other bodily fluids like saliva? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/6 "2009-08-30T13:36:07Z")
It so happens I just finished reading an anthropology book that briefly mentioned secretors. They are the roughly 60% of people who secrete ABO group antigens through their saliva (and skin apparently). Some speculate that it might be an adaptation to dealing with antibodies that are actually found in certain foods like lima beans. This speculation may have inspired the development of the “blood type diet” which is probably quackery: [http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/NegativeBR/d’adamo.html](http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/NegativeBR/d%27adamo.html) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/7 "2009-08-30T14:21:06Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > They are the roughly 60% of people who secrete ABO group antigens through their saliva Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/8 "2009-08-30T19:42:35Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > It so happens I just finished reading an anthropology book that briefly mentioned secretors. They are the roughly 60% of people who secrete ABO group antigens through their saliva (and skin apparently). Some speculate that it might be an adaptation to dealing with antibodies that are actually found in certain foods like lima beans. This speculation may have inspired the development of the “blood type diet” which is probably quackery: [Book Review: Eat Right 4 Your Type | Quackwatch](http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/NegativeBR/d%27adamo.html) Wow. What effect might this have if such a person bites another person hard enough to get saliva into their blood stream?? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/9 "2009-08-30T21:25:53Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > Wow. What effect might this have if such a person bites another person hard enough to get saliva into their blood stream?? Hmmmm. You perhaps I don’t have to have hydrophobia to make a list of people to bite… ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/10 "2009-08-31T00:17:08Z")
A related question. Mosquito bites on my wife and daughter last for several days. They last on me for less than an hour. What gives? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/11 "2009-08-31T00:48:23Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A related question. Mosquito bites on my wife and daughter last for several days. They last on me for less than an hour. What gives? If you don’t scratch them, the bites go away in 20 minutes. If you scratch, they do not. Don’t scratch! Plus, the more you get bit the more you develop a temporary tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/12 "2009-08-31T01:41:01Z")
Type O positive, not really that bugged. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/13 "2009-08-31T01:58:54Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A related question. Mosquito bites on my wife and daughter last for several days. They last on me for less than an hour. What gives? I tried a [couple](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524388) of [polls](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524653) in search of an answer. I can’t find the post, but apparently we become somewhat immune with exposure. As a kid they would last for days; now they last for half an hour tops. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/14 "2009-08-31T03:46:12Z")
> [@](#): > > I can’t find the post, but apparently we become somewhat immune with exposure. As a kid they would last for days; now they last for half an hour tops. I have a very outdoorsy cousin who never gets a welt from them in the first place. Which, among other benefits, lets him do things like pinching it in place so it can’t pull out and explodes, with impunity. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/15 "2009-08-31T10:21:17Z")
Have you actually seen him do that? I thought that was an urban legend. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/16 "2009-08-31T11:30:46Z")
Cecil Adams on [If you flex your muscle when a mosquito bites you, will it swell up and explode?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1150/if-you-flex-your-muscle-when-a-mosquito-bites-you-will-it-swell-up-and-explode) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/17 "2009-08-31T13:06:33Z")
Mosquito welts barely last 10 minutes on me, then they fade. On Fierra, even though she DOES NOT scratch, they last for days. With the weather like it’s been this year, we’ve been able to confirm this on both of our accounts numerous times. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/18 "2009-08-31T19:00:23Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > On Fierra, even though she DOES NOT scratch, they last for days. Does she really? Does she sit there, meditating on the pain as the recent bite burns in her arm? Or does she massage it and scratch around it and hope that scratching it only every so often counts as not scratching? ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_Astronaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bad\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/19 "2009-08-31T19:21:04Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I tried a [couple](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524388) of [polls](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524653) in search of an answer. > I can’t find the post, but apparently we become somewhat immune with exposure. As a kid they would last for days; now they last for half an hour tops. Ditto for me - as a kid I got massive hives, to the point that I was considered to have a serious allergic reaction to mosquito bites (not sure if a doctor actually said that or if it was just my mom). But they gradually decreased in severity. As a teenager I got normal sized bites but they drove me crazy with itching. Now (mid 20’s) I rarely even notice a bump. And when I do, they aren’t particularly itchy. I would say I get bit a few times a week during the summer (sometimes I catch them in the act). ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177/20 "2009-08-31T20:49:25Z")
I’m Type o+ and it is a well known fact in my family that if ayone is getting bit by mosquitos, it will Not be me. Pretty much immune. My type A+ wife is the one bitten all the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-true-mosquito-bite-vs-blood-type-expanded-title/508177.md?page=2)