If you become nauseated at the thought of blood, you wouldn’t make a great mosquito.
Well, female mosquito anyway. Mammalian blood is not just life-sustaining for female mosquitoes. It is used to create new life. Male mosquitoes spend their lives feeding on nectar and plant sap, while females are mostly out for blood. Female mosquitoes seek out their blood meal in order to fertilize their eggs. Human blood contains essential nutrients that help mosquito eggs grow. Among those nutrients are amino acids and proteins. Females lay their clutches in standing water, and those eggs will become adults in about 8 to 10 days. That is potentially 100 to 200 new mosquitoes buzzing around your property, seeking blood, and procreating!
Why do mosquitoes need blood?
What makes you a preferred mosquito blood donor?
Back in 2020, scientists confirmed that the female Aedes aegypti mosquito seeks out the sweet and savory taste of human blood. Mosquitoes are actually able to home in on human blood specifically, and can tell the difference in our blood versus other mammals. And while some reports say that one blood type might be preferred over the other, when it comes down to their innate need for a blood meal, female mosquitoes are not extremely picky. They will target the closest human, making them an unwilling blood donor.
What do mosquitoes do with your DNA?
When a female mosquito successfully take a blood meal from you, she has definitely collected your DNA. Since your blood specimen is being consumed like a meal, and digested as such, there is no chance that you will become the proud parent of a clutch of mosquito eggs that have your DNA.
Do mosquito babies have your DNA?
Can mosquitoes pass your blood to another person?
Mosquitoes’ mouth parts are such that one tube is used for sucking and the other for injecting saliva – not blood. Therefore if a mosquito bites you and then someone else, it will not pass your blood to another person, or vice versa. And while mosquitoes certainly become infected with diseases from tainted blood of their hosts, they do not pass those diseases through blood transmission.
Can you contract a blood-borne illness by smashing a mosquito?
Even if you were to smash a mosquito, which contains a blood-borne pathogen, like HIV, there would not be enough of virus causing agents present to result in infection. There is no evidence to suggest that this is even remotely possible. So, while it is certainly gross to smash a blood-engorged mosquito, it will not make you sick.
However, the fact that mosquitoes cannot pass your blood or blood-borne pathogens to another person doesn’t mean that you should skimp on mosquito bite protection. I recommend long sleeves and pants when you are out in natural mosquito habitats, paired with a repellent. At home, professional Peabody mosquito control will interrupt mosquito breeding and help prevent potentially harmful bites.