How to Become Immune to Mosquito Bites

Did you know there IS a way to become immune to mosquito bites? It sounds like a dream come true, but the price of immunity may not be worth it. Hosted by Hank Green.
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Sources:
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www.annallergy.org/article/S1...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/a...
eprints.ucm.es/46202/1/T39413....
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journals.lww.com/co-allergy/A...
well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/0...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
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Images/Sounds:
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www.istockphoto.com/vector/in...
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www.istockphoto.com/photo/wom...

[@jamesamann9745]

A few years back, a friend of mine who has always spent a lot of time outdoors, was diagnosed with cancer. He was treated with chemotherapy. He noticed that during this treatment he could spend long periods of time outdoors and never suffered a single insect bite. He thought it was interesting that all biting insects were able to detect the chemicals in his body and they left him alone. Fortunately he was cured and is happy to be swatting mosquitoes once more.

[@skay1992]

Isnt it frightening that not even the bugs will go near the chemicals humans produce?

[@C4rol5791]

@@jsmit9161 I'm not a fluent English speaker but if "jabbed" means vaccinated, i am jabbed and i got like 20 mosquito bites on myself right now, all in one day. I even used a repellent. Chemotherapy uses very powerful agents and its nowhere comparable to vaccines, if you analysed the ingredients of them carefully, you'd see. But it's easier to believe facebook conspiracies for some of you

[@eastsidemuu]

Samething happened when I put McDonald's nuggets outside for a couple weeks not even the Flys touched them smh

[@revinaque1342]

I don't think the insects were leaving him alone... His immune system was just too compromised by chemotherapy to produce a reaction to the bites

[@ldmcnutt]

As another commenter suggested, during chemotherapy, your immune system is compromised and he wasn’t able to Mount an immune response to any bites he received.

[@Heartwing37]

When I go outside, mosquitoes scream, “The Chosen One is now outdoors!”

[@billewilde1]

Change your diet if you spend a lot of time outdoors.

[@billewilde1]

@Lureeality Arts 2 strike anywhere matches, before you go out to the field chew the heads off. Ticks, mosquitos, chiggers won't like the way you tastes. Granddad, Dad did it... been doing it for years never had a problem.

[@whiteviper1979]

I f#cking HATE 😡 MOSQUITOES!!!

[@avantesma1]

I'm convinced my blood is the mosquito equivalent of Veuve Clicquot.

[@nanaforchrist915]

@@billewilde1 “Match heads contain sulfur which naturally repels mosquitoes and other insects. But, strike-anywhere matches also contain potassium chlorate and antimony trisulphide, which could be toxic. Safety match heads even contain grounding looked the great spun glass. Do not make a practice of eating match heads to repel mosquitoes.”

[@Hartofafool]

anyone else hoping that this video was gonna be about perfectly repelling mosquitos?

[@swifteh1780]

Yup. Totally disappointed.

[@bockjess]

Uhh, ya. This was useless unless you live in a Florida swamp

[@katieandkevinsears7724]

I have traps on my property that take care of the skeeters. It's a mix of sugar, salt, yeast and water. So they make alcohol, the skeeters get drunk and then drown.

[@vanniyo8988]

Stop eating sweet foods

[@lonestarr1490]

@@vanniyo8988 Won't do anything. Mosquitos do not know what you've had for breakfast. They locate you via the differences in CO2 saturation around you. The only thing you can actually do is: walk away. Mosquitos have a top speed of around 2 km/h. Every granny walks faster than that.

[@JohnFoley1701]

The 580 dislikes are from people squishing a mosquito that landed on the dislike button.

[@chloe3087]

this comment is underrated and amazingly original😂

[@JordanPeterson.]

@@chloe3087 I agree

[@christinajimenez2206]

🤣🤣🤣

[@aed2318]

Underated comedy 😂😂😂

[@EmmaHopman]

Aged poorly

[@writeordie5452]

My parents' secret recipe was garlic, lots and lots of garlic. My secret recipe is never going outside.

[@writeordie5452]

No, wait, that was against ticks. My recipe works for both, though.

[@princessbinas]

Hey, at least garlic is good for your blood stream.

[@Primalxbeast]

WriteorDie I use tons of garlic, but the mosquitoes here seem to have a taste for spicy food.

[@TheRogueWolf]

I tried that against ticks. They bit me instead of the garlic.

[@huntedghostsnero7035]

Try beer it attract slugs, it may work for tucks.

[@ScrapPalletMan]

EVERY time I get bit by a mosquito, for the next 2 hours I have imaginary Phantom bites all over my body.... hate it!

[@pultofcat8615]

Those are the ghosts of all the mosquitoes you’ve killed in your life.

[@ScrapPalletMan]

@@pultofcat8615 I am totally itchy all over now LOL.

[@Slymarauder]

Ahaha this was the best post for today :D

[@erneizhyde2660]

I once lost a whole night's worth of sleep over this.

[@udtheaesir]

Wait until you have flea bites. Have fun with the phantom flea bites!

[@And3aPet]

This is true! For about 17 years my husband and I lived in a very mosquito ridden area. We decided that dosing ourselves with bug repellent every day wasn’t a good idea. So we got bitten - maybe 50-100 bites per day. It didn’t take long to become immune. The only problem is at some point we both got West Nile! West Nile is bad but the upside is, we recovered and are now immune to that too.

[@BantuAzania]

You're so lucky.

[@petedavis7970]

Me too! I lived in Mexico about 30 years ago. After 6-8 months of being eaten alive, the welts and itching suddenly stopped. I assumed for a long time that they just stopped biting me, but realized eventually that they were still biting me, but I just wasn't reacting anymore. I think they were biting me less too. But here I am 30 years later and I'm still immune. I feel the initial poke from time to time of a mosquito biting me and I'll tell my wife and daughter so we can go inside or put on repellant. Fortunately never got dengue or west nile. Several of my friends got dengue and it sounded horrible. One of them almost killed himself while he was suffering from it, the pain was so bad. I consider it one of the greatest gifts I've ever received, because I used to really suffer from the bites.

[@osncw2846]

theres a bunch of misquitos outside and i have to take 4 dogs out in the morning afternoon and evening and they take long to go so i dont put on bug repelent

[@GlorifiedGremlin]

You are the chosen ones meant to defend mankind from mosquitoes

[@osncw2846]

@@GlorifiedGremlin yes

[@Patrick_Cooper]

At some point in my life, I noticed that when everyone else around me is getting bit, I didn't. I can't remember the last time I was bitten, I spend fair amount of time outdoors. I guess being a mean, bitter old man, has its advantages...

[@aaronmullenix5409]

I've never been bitten by a mosquito. They land on me and fly away

[@chuckinhouston9952]

Same here. Garlic and jalapeños - they don’t like this stuff.

[@salmaflores6928]

@@aaronmullenix5409 same 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@adriansieja7377]

It's all out your blood type

[@personapersonality8187]

Donate your blood to researchers and help us please..lol

[@pooyazadeh5066]

My problem isn't the bites. It is the noise of the mosquitos specially at the middle of the night.

[@MsSilentH]

Its the worst! And since between me and my partner, I'm the mosquito magnet, I get them all near me.... as well, since moving to Europe, I've realized that I have to deal with NO screens on windows >.>

[@eeveefennecfox]

Paul Andarzgar the bites are the worst dumbass

[@equinae6048]

Paul Andarzgar yeah that my big problem to! My mind get triggered already if i hear a mosquito sound

[@HotSauceBeatsFan]

My problem is I scratch it till it bleeds then keep sctratching the scabs off and it forms a scar and the problem is mockitos love me

[@pooyazadeh5066]

@@CommunistBot 😂😂😂

[@MrEnky007]

The electric racket is more satisfying...

[@udtheaesir]

Yeah, if you're not dealing with the evasive ones, those are annoying.

[@MrEnky007]

@@udtheaesir When my target is locked, there's little chance of survival. I prefer a one swing execution for a cleaner death.

[@faiqcreates]

@@MrEnky007 and then the racket hit the sofa

[@allanjbara2382]

MrEnky007 ikr

[@gaurav4725]

I like to kill lots of mosquitoes at once because of the crackling sound it makes.

[@sysghost]

I've discovered that being sweaty and stinky keeps the mosquitos away from me most of the times. Although while this work for me, a friend of mine who tried the same tactic had the total opposite effect. He attracted even more while being sweaty and stinky.

[@MrDisgruntledGamer1]

the CO2 we breath out and the body of heat attached to that breath is what they are attracted to. Maybe he breaths alot more than you making him stick out much more.

[@dracoargentum9783]

Also what you've been eating will come out in your sweat.

[@adriansieja7377]

It's your blood.

[@barracuda6817]

Sweat attracts mosquitoes.

[@sasheenmalcolm4931]

🤣😅😅

[@thatryguy5474]

Strongly scented plants help to keep mosquitoes away. Rosemary, lavender, Mint, Basil etc.

[@driftingdruid]

Cats hate the smells of those too, including Citrus fruits

[@kathmandu2285]

I have this stuff all over the deck. Multiple plants. It doesn't work.

[@thatryguy5474]

@@kathmandu2285 it well for me when I lived on the east coast.

[@Asdfkalsdf]

I have those mosquito (citronella) plants everywhere in my front and backyard and I still get bites every year.

[@thatryguy5474]

@@Asdfkalsdf You must be tasty. 😋

[@Master_Therion]

Well that sucks. And here I was hoping for a treatment that didn't totally bite.

[@JamieJosef]

Master Therion was that pun intentional

[@Master_Therion]

Jamie Josef 90% of the puns I make are intended. The ratio of which an accidental pun occurred, one pun... in ten did.

[@william41017]

@@Master_Therion you were waiting for this question to use this pun, weren't you?

[@larrysheklstien1010]

you absolute madman

[@sapphirII]

So let's me make sure I understand the information. The secret to become immune to mosquito bites is for the immune system to not do its job?

[@Belboz99]

In the Scouts we had swarms of Mosquitoes at summer camp. Every year I got hundreds of bumps the first couple of days, nearly covered. But then by midweek the bumps subsided. I stopped noticing the mosquios as much, but I was still being bitten. I'd frequently only notice I was being bitten if I saw it, sometimes up to half a dozen on a single arm or leg. But these new bites never swelled. Every year there after, the initial phase grew less and less intense, and lasted shorter. After around 8 years I pretty much stopped having any reaction to them at all. Yesterday I went on a hike with the kids, got over a dozen bites, and not one bump... it's been 20 years since summer camp.

[@shieh.4743]

Dan O'Connell This is basically my husband’s story also and he always tells me that I just have been bitten enough. 🙄 As if I missed out while marching through the woods as an army cadet. 😉

[@erkdoc5]

Ok, so it isn't just me. I'll get bit a lot, but only one or two bites itch, and even then it's for a very short time.

[@Hellefleur]

You attracted all the mosquitos? You must have been everyone's favorite person.

[@sophiajune546]

Arent you worried about diseases spread by mosquito bites ?

[@Belboz99]

Hellefleur, actually I don't attract them as much as others... I've got type B+ blood, mosquitoes don't like it as much as others.

[@UnOrigionalOne]

I became immune to the mosquito bites in my home town. Three points: I am still immune today. I am not immune to other varieties of mosquitos. I am immune to this day 20 years later.

[@paul6925]

That would explain why after years of playing outside in swampland, I didn’t get itchy welts anymore by the time I was a teen

[@anyascelticcreations]

Same. Only it was forest and river for me. We used to say that mosquitos were our state bird there. Lol.

[@paul6925]

@@anyascelticcreations lol we also got black flies for 2 weeks that make it impossible to go outside. I hate it so I moved to the city 😂

[@freeeggs3811]

@@paul6925 Same thing happened to me now after getting bit by a mosquito it would only swell up for around 1 minute before completely disappearing.

[@anyascelticcreations]

@@paul6925 Yeah, we had vicious deer flies another place that I lived. They were horrible! And chiggers. Hmm. I've been planning to move back out to the forest again. (In a different state) Maybe I should spend some time there to see what the bugs are like before I buy. Lol. 🤔

[@lindanguyen5026]

Mosquito: Sees me for .1 seconds The mosquito: hehe ye boi

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

If your profile pic is accurate I agree with the mosquitoes sentiment

[@Sora-eo2er]

@@Ag3nt0fCha0s simp

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

@@Sora-eo2er yeah ok u got me. Do me a favour tho; was that an ok comment or lecherous, rude and unfunnny? Because looking back I do not know if I crossed the line.

[@Sora-eo2er]

@@Ag3nt0fCha0s its a joke relax. xD

[@Ag3nt0fCha0s]

@@Sora-eo2er thx bro :-)

[@A_Final_Hit]

Instructions unclear. Arm stuck in an alligator's mouth.

[@stefanosgeorgiou8828]

Then how did you comment with one hand Being in aligator's mouth? Haha gottem

[@yazz4350]

stefanos georgiou he can type wif one hand yo

[@stefanosgeorgiou8828]

@@yazz4350 yea but can he when one hand is in aligator's mouth? Well I might Just ne stupid

[@nicolemelgar5247]

R

[@haironscreen2495]

stefanos georgiou r/ woosh

[@steveseliger]

I worked in the Adirondacks for several summers when I was in my 20’s. We were bitten by mosquitoes constantly all summer long. At first I had huge, severely uncomfortable reactions. Then, suddenly, after two summers of this, I stopped having any reaction at all. I’m now 60, and no matter where I go I am immune. No reaction at all. Several of my friends who worked with me have developed similar life long immunity.

[@politicalcinnamon8839]

I've been taking Turmeric for the last few years, for generalized inflammation issues ... side effect: fewer bites and when they do bite, less itching!

[@safir2241]

God I despise mosquitoes.

[@Ganara426]

Cant be worse than wasps... Wait I need to rethink that...

[@theboosted1369]

Don’t forget the bedbugs

[@bravoalley228]

That is another reason to why I like bats

[@bravoalley228]

Scientific Machine what? Do you know of the Abrahamaic faiths? Abraham did not exist when the flood happened. Therefore neither did Jesus

[@billpetersen298]

Mmmmmmm, maybe mosquitoes, are in the image of god?

[@afiqzx]

Tried this. Got dengue. Noice

[@neelav2394]

Why do you have a matrix as your profile picture though?

[@Zoniuc]

N337av G#o5h Why do you have a dog as your picture?

[@Ronan350z]

@@Zoniuc why do you have a s as a picture?

[@LFTRnow]

Why do you have a chicken as yours?

[@ag135i]

A picture speaks more than a thousand word's, period.

[@TonyaTko]

🤔🙄 so basically, 6 months of extreme torture and malaria, only to go to a different area and start all over again

[@HannahIm]

Interesting! When I first moved to South Korea from the US 16 years ago, I got horrible quartersized welts from the mosquito bites. My reactions gradually got milder, and in the past few years either I miraculously got no bites or I become totally desensitized.

[@nothing2seehere.goaway]

Grew up in my grannie's house very close to the beach in the Caribbean. Her house had no window screens and the mosquitoes were on attack 24/7. By the time I went to Kindergarten, the bites no longer affected me at all. However, my cousins that lived in the States and came to visit each summer would get covered in bumps and boils. Curiously, I am still immune 35 years later even though I don't live in the Caribbean anymore.

[@roku_nine]

is still itchy when they bite?

[@nothing2seehere.goaway]

Not at all. Except on certain areas like around the ankles and the achilles tendon. But I suppose it is because the skin itself might be more sensitive in those spots.

[@syedsnake9801]

@@nothing2seehere.goaway Damnn you are like a mosqitoe veteran huh.

[@Im15cheese]

It’s like 4am, and there’s a mosquito in my bedroom. I tried to kill it despite it being almost completely dark. But now it’s somewhere in my bedroom. Now I’m really paranoid, and here I am, doing research on mosquitos...

[@sourgrapes2135]

I'm allergic to their bites...

[@thehonoredone8470]

This is me right now

[@enderlynxwilloze7935]

【 Bøuncy 】 same. I’m scared because I have 100 bites.

[@joemama7236]

I killed one that bit me alot and there is a ton of blood on me

[@yourmom4180]

I know that feeling, sometimes I haven't slept at all because of mosquitoes...

[@stonew1927]

Mosquitoes love carnivores. I live in Hawaii where there are LOTS of mosquitoes here on the wetter side of the island, and when I followed a mostly vegetarian diet they really didn't bother me much. I could be standing outside or sitting by a stream in a forest surrounded by mosquitoes and they wouldn't bother me, but they would be all over other people. Lately I've started eating some meat again and sure enough they are all over biting the crap out of me!! So that's the secret!! They like people who eat meat! Stop eating meat and see what happens!!!

[@pammyrogers]

I used to be a magnet for mosquitoes which was miserable. For the last 8 years I have eaten no meat. I wondered why they rarely bother me now.

[@stonew1927]

@@pammyrogers Well there you go!

[@DustyFingersRC]

I am vegetarian and have been for decades. Every summer I get bitten, when it is a bite which bleeds the limb I am bitten on swells and it tracks my veins so I have to have antibiotics. It ruins my summer.

[@jonascoelho]

I knew it! In my parents' home there is this very annoying mosquito (Simuliidae) that leaves you with gigantic bumps on your skin (like 5~10cm wide). However, I noticed that after moving here I was no longer being bitten, while everytime there was a visitor they had this very intense reaction if they did not use repelent. So it was not that I was not being bitten, my body just got used to it. Funny thing is: if I leave home for a long period (a year or so) and then come back, it takes 1~2 weeks to go back to "numb" mode. This species in particular seems to be faster to desensitize, probably because the reaction to their toxicins (or whatever it is called) is so intense. That should be worth a paper to publish (anyone else reading this feel free to investigate, I'm not in the biology field)

[@electronicsNmore]

I'm a mosquito magnet. LOL

[@royale.artist3197]

Me Three....

[@marloncrespo9903]

Me Four....

[@Bryan-Hensley]

Your breath gives off co2 more than others. Also you skin temperature may be higher than others. DEET isn't a posion either, it doesn't repel mosquitoes and it doesn't mess up their senses. They simply hate it. You stink to them

[@electronicsNmore]

@@Bryan-Hensley Has nothing to do with breathing, I performed a test. Stood outside 2 minutes holding my breath and still got bites.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

@@electronicsNmore I have studied these little bastards for decades to try to find a way to get rid of them. Yes they use c02 and thermal to find you. If you step outside in an area already plentiful with mosquitoes you will get bit even if you hold your breath. However if you happen to go to a really dry area where they aren't as plentiful, they will find you via c02. They are pretty complicated little bastards

[@nziom]

Among all creatures this one that I hope human's can one day erase it.

[@nicodemus7774]

n ziom what about parasitic wasps? Their larvae will first eat the insides of their host, ( they take care not to kill it) for example a caterpillar, until they grow up enough so they can bite their way out, after that their actions affected the caterpillar mind so much that the caterpillar will start building cocoons around the larvae, and protect them from predators until the caterpillar dies from starvation.

[@koolaid1646]

Nicodemus (눈▽눈)

[@johnvarghese382]

And bed bugs

[@xxXthekevXxx]

Nicodemus parasitic wasps are actually considered a hugely beneficial insect (good) for farmers. They will kill and eat the worms that infest our crops :D I grow a garden and I actually hope to start planting plants to attract more parasitic wasps.

[@xxXthekevXxx]

John Varghese bed bugs, lice, fleas, etc, are absolutely useless ecologically and I hope they all die. Mosquitoes, on the other hand, serve a huge benefit to all the animals that eat them (birds, bats, other insects, etc) and could possibly cause a collapse in the food chain if they disappeared. We don’t know. It’s hard and dangerous to mess with the environment like this, which is why we haven’t killed them yet.

[@geoffreyanderson4719]

Is it merely a immune system overreaction, or is it a hard-won evolutionary defense against the single most dangerous killer of humans of all time?

[@lindatullos9430]

Yeah I's want to know if I was bit since there are so many diseases they inject with their needle. Better to avoid being bit, so itchy bumps might make you stay away. repellant, and cover up when they are active.(That seems to be different times and conditions for different species.).

[@adriansieja7377]

It's that person's immune system being compromised and them needing to fix it.

[@Jeuro38]

A 1000 bites over a summer is genuinely possible for me, without even trying

[@CaptainOnePocket]

That's only about 10 bites a day.

[@hotANIMEmanART]

I guess the 117 dislikes are from mosquitoes

[@icejax]

Straight Logic

[@SnowyZero]

Xileer Torias You’re a mosquito...

[@hannah8672]

Rindle OMG U HAVE 117 LIKES WHATT

[@_lynnloo9988]

177 like lMAO

[@myview9923]

I think mosquitoes like it.. He is promoting hundreds of bites per month..

[@thingswecarry7564]

I live in Florida and work outside, I passed this event horizon years ago.

[@ronaldowens5025]

But what about them big white and black stripped bastards.

[@irmaadyatnimawardi]

when I was in elementary school I had severe allergic reaction to mosquito bites, I'm talking about whole body rash like if I fell into poison ivy bush, nowadays it's just a bit itchy, but yeah, it took decades to come to this point...

[@spamdotcom5897]

I’m severely allergic to mosquito bites I get hives,blisters,rashes,skin peeling off. So I hope this helps!

[@Quasardian]

The worst thing outdoors? They are the worst thing indoors! Hunting them takes ages.

[@Ganara426]

Hah been there.... been there.......

[@disruptivetimes8738]

One little bastard can ruin a whole night and only with luck he turns into a red spot on a white wall. No hunt can be so anoying and yet so satisfying if you get them. Kill them all.

[@kme]

My husband hunts them with the vacuum cleaner. Gets most, if not all the little buggers.

[@sogerc1]

I was gonna say the vacuum cleaner thing too. Of course only if you have the one with the long flexible tube. Besides being very effective, you won't put blood stains on your wall.

[@tuckerkatze8309]

It's that high-pitched buzzing in your ear that drove me insane. Not sure if it was that heinous high pitch or the fact that I REALLY did NOT want to get bitten AGAIN!

[@turtle4llama]

It's definitely a bad idea to do exposure therapy with bug bites. My husband is an entomologist and we have hand-raised mosquitoes for years. I had to stop working with him because I became so highly sensitized to bites. Neither of us can hand feed anymore because the bites swell to rapidly and don't allow for the bugs to feed properly. Though we may become desensitized in the future, it would likely be temporary before we quickly developed lethal reactions. It's not uncommon for bee specialists to become deathly allergic after years of exposure and its likely to work the same for us. The desensitization period is temporary, is all I'm saying... work with an allergist.

[@FoxxElite1]

Bee Venom is not an allergy...

[@turtle4llama]

@@FoxxElite1 it can be, like anything else. Bee specialists develop allergies just like most people do to being exposed to foreign bodies.

[@celinak5062]

Well, that complicates things

[@preciousvicious9025]

@@FoxxElite1 of course it can be. My grandma almost died from a venom that doesnt usually kill a human Cancer got to her tho

[@123123boobies]

Why would you raise mosquitos? They all need to die

[@steliosliagkos]

Me: goes to sleep Moscito in 12 am: wait 1 am: wait 3 am: wait 4 am: now go to his ear

[@SoSickRick]

How have I not become immune? I’ve been stung billions and billions of times

[@freeeggs3811]

I highly doubt that.

[@thallescorti5636]

yeah, me too. Many years getting bitted everyday, and i haven't become immune. For me it is " no see ums " and they bite me thousand times on a regular night.

[@royale.artist3197]

Mosquitos LOVE me, and I MeAn They LOVE ME!

[@arthas640]

i read that in Fluttershy's voice from the famous "You're going to love me" Flutterrage meme

[@JeantheSecond]

Same.

[@GrosvnerMcaffrey]

@@arthas640 funny because I imagined pleakley's voice

[@arthas640]

@@GrosvnerMcaffrey now I cant unhear it!

[@SnowyZero]

Oh, I just figured out why my immune system overreacts to everything. It must have gotten it from my mother’s personality.

[@notmeanttobe6940]

I had quite the histrionic mother myself lol!

[@deepwaters7242]

Hmmm I learned on scishow that my sweat, Genes and blood type are all contributing to my delicious mosquito ambrosia.

[@billywong7775]

The last statements deserves my like Here in Malaysia you will likely end up with some nasty severe dengue fever or dengue haemorrhagic fever if you allow yourself to be bitten that often 😝

[@heavymeddle28]

Yea, same here in Thailand 😊

[@richardo7791]

Become immune to mosquito bites! _Ok, I'm listening._

[@lyleblue6739]

A mosquito bite can be neutralized with a hot spoon. Run one under scalding hot water, and press it to the bite. The spoon has just enough energy to denature the enzymes of the bite without much(any?) skin damage. You'll feel something like a zap, and the itch is gone ✨

[@ilavvex2823]

I guess that's why my parents mosquito bite treatment worked. They would peel some pieces of onion layers and heat them up on a pan. Once hot, the onion piece would then be applied directly to the bite and boom, problem solved!

[@YouShotMyRobot]

I'm going to try this!

[@CigsInABlanket]

I just scratch the skin off and let it scab over. Seems to be effective.

[@Lisa-fy1vi]

I don't see how a hot spoon can stop an immune response as it is something that happens inside your body, not on the surface of your skin... If it was that simple allergies would not be as big of a deal as they are for many people. My guess is the heat from the spoon just reduces the itching, doesn't actually suppress the immune response.

[@cheekypasta55]

thats......gross.

[@Akira-jd2zr]

When a mosquito bites me, it swells up to around the size of a nickel and is super itchy...

[@freeeggs3811]

Then you need to go outside more, I use to have the same reaction as you but after being out in the woods for a long time, it only swells up for around a minute before disappearing completely.

[@Neuralatrophy]

I have almost no reaction to mosquito bites... LSS, don't move to northern Ontario unless you're ready for the bites, I've seen more mosquitoes in my house in one night than I've seen in 4 years of living in Calgary and where I am now !!

[@checkmyplaylist6879]

But are they still going to do that annoying sound!?

[@eyemann5706]

Be deaf. Boom, solved.

[@MatthewSmith-sz1yq]

It’s just a really really tiny violin, don’t get mad at them for trying to aspire to greater things.

[@bayareajokester9456]

Mosquitos buzz for love. So why don’t you buzz off instead Mr!

[@TGNXAR]

Females don't make the noise. It's the males showing off for the females.

[@zamundaaa776]

@@TGNXAR only the females hang around in houses to get our blood. After they've mated. So the males are pretty much never even there And it's their flight sound like from any other flee but more annoying

[@DoctorX17]

Until I was nearing my 20s, I seemed to never get mosquito bites when everyone else was covered... I'm wondering now if I was getting bitten but just not having reactions

[@mixtlillness9825]

This gives me an idea on how to become immune to bullets!

[@GrayShark09]

Right! Start with the smallest calibers first.

[@freeeggs3811]

It doesn’t work like this dummy.

[@Bunta1987qwerty]

When mosquitoes are declared an endangered species, my ghost will throw a party

[@PugLifeJM]

It's 2018 and mosquitoes still exist. We could destroy the planet if we wanted, but not end these little buggers. Humanity disappoints me sometimes.

[@Ganara426]

It sounds like you *want* to destroy the planet... Why, its already happening anyway...

[@silverdeathgamer2907]

We can genetically engineer them to make them impotent.

[@chrisbalfour466]

We can easily destroy all the insects, just not specifically mosquitoes. Broad spectrum insecticides also do bad things like causing cancer, persisting in the environment, and poisoning all the animals. So, people chose to error on the side of caution and not declare war on bugs.

[@onesandzeroes]

It's 2018 and while we shouldn't destroy all mosquitos and the ecosystem, it's surprising there's no reliable device or substance on sale that would attract and zap them locally. All those insect lamps are a scam

[@kyleellis9177]

They are our only competetion for creature that killed the most humans, we must eradicate them so we are uncontested

[@frostedmantis6414]

Make sure ur immune to mosquito transmitted parasites and diseases too

[@RialuCaos]

Because they prefer to express their concurrence through means other than a thumbs-up.

[@stillnotwoke]

@Human Cancerbag ... IKR?

[@petedavis7970]

THANK YOU!!!! I've been waiting for an explanation to this for 30 years... I lived in Mexico a bit over 30 years ago. Before I moved down there, I was the kind of guy who, if there were 100 people hanging out outside and only one of them got a mosquito bite, I was the victim. When I moved to Mexico, man they ate me alive. I was eating garlic cloves every day (my girlfriend did not appreciate me sweating garlic) for long periods. I tried everything. My lower legs were just covered in welts for like 8 months. And then, all of a sudden, it stopped. I thought maybe they stopped biting me. In fact, for years, I just assumed that's what it was. But then I started paying a bit more attention and I noticed they were biting me. I just wasn't reacting to it anymore. I think of it as one of the greatest pleasures of my life, not having had to endure mosquitoes for the past 30 years. The itching could be horrible. Ever had a mosquito bite you through the thickest part of the sole of your foot? You need a serrated knife or a really rough rock, or cement, to scratch deep enough to get any relief. It's horrible. I don't miss it one bit. To answer your question about how long it lasts without maintenance doses? Well I've been going 30 years and I'm sure I've had some maintenance doses, but I don't go looking for them and frankly, I think they actually bite me less than they used to

[@bonnitaclaus2286]

When I was living in Florida, I became immune to the local mosquitoes... no reaction. I had a little reaction also to mosquito bites in another area where I spent a lot of time. However, if I went fishing near turtle Beach, it was very different and painful. All other places I had some reaction. I captured mosquitoes and found they did not look the same. Interesting. The worst ones were black with white markings. The one at my house were smaller and more of a gray.

[@themanatee9276]

Same, I live in North Central FL and am not really bothered by the mosquitoes at all but outside of the range of my local mosquitoes I still get the reaction.

[@UYLhealth]

I read that there were companies gmo’ing mosquitos and wanting to release them in Florida claiming it would help decrease the population.

[@xLKYBx]

The black and white ones are the Asian tiger species. Those are KNARLY!

[@proudindian2186]

I m loved by all mosquitos species. U r unfortunate.

[@djssdns]

Oh my god Poor guy I feel like the dude should get a medal that says "Did It For Science!"

[@ElectricHelloKitty]

Nevet clicked so fast

[@SNBoomer4ever]

*Never

[@Bee-bup]

Haha who's Nevet

[@SilverCanary1]

me toot...

[@ElectricHelloKitty]

Ярослав Абрамовиц “nevet” is how someone whos watching a video instead of their keyboard spells “never”

[@samantharose6445]

I knew this but didn't know it. I grew up in North Port, Florida, and as a kid (ages 6 to 12) I was outside year round playing in the woods and being a kid. My legs would always...and I mean always....be covered in mosquito bites. One year it was so bad I remember not being able to get into my neighbor's pool because the (what seemed like hundreds of) bites on my legs stung so badly. Fast forward to now, I'm 29 (but the bites stopped when I was a teenager), and I can sit outside at night in the Florida summer and my skin looks like it NEVER got touched by a single Mosquito. Everyone I know is jealous and nobody likes to sit outside at night with me. Thanks for this video! It confirmed my suspicions about my body building an immunity to them!

[@blackenedmerlin2076]

Methinks you have misunderstood our fundamental desires here... by "immune to mosquito bites", we want mosquitos to stop having any interest in us, no reactions because no bites.

[@freeeggs3811]

No

[@Unyt]

I slapped a mosquito out of existence once

[@thesfsguy6248]

Wow your hand must be a black hole

[@shelbywill8848]

@buckets, just take a joke dude..

[@unsuspiciouschair4501]

Good

[@nothingnothing635]

I slapped a fly and some mosquitoes out into oblivion once

[@DennisMartinezCalifornia]

It woke up on a carriage in Skyrim 😂

[@melissaquinn1463]

I got chomped on this summer and the reaction was more like hives, with huge welts and extreme itching. It took about two weeks to heal, and there are still faint shadows on my skin where the bites were. I’m pretty sure those were mosquito bites. Apparently I am delicious because the spiders and fleas wouldn’t leave me alone either. Their bite marks stayed small, but itched like bejeezus. It’s seriously hard to be a sane human under that kind of provocation. My apologies to my family.

[@anomilumiimulimona2924]

Problem is everytime you get bit, 1000's of new mosquitos are produced

[@tomm8025]

I've noticed that after years away from mosquitos, then coming back, I had much less reaction to the bites and any reaction I did have went away quicker.

[@PHAZER99]

I wouldn't care if it messed up the ecological system i'd be more than happy to see mosquitos gone from existence

[@dylanbarkhuizen7227]

The cool thing is it wouldn't.

[@maracachucho8701]

@@dylanbarkhuizen7227 Biologist here, this is a fact. Some mosquito species are important pollinators, but none of them are the kind that bites.

[@jasminewood395]

@Dream Delirium I'm not sure that I believe it but at least one recent study, sorry I can't cite it, claims that if mosquitos were to become extinct it wouldn't really affect any thing in a negative way. They claim that all the niches they fill could be filled by other creatures. Like I said, not I believe it, a lot of things feed on mosquitoes, but I don't think anything exclusively feeds on them, and there are any number of other small creatures that live in very similar places and similar ways to mosquitoes. I don't think it really matters that much, we're pretty good at killing of small populations of unique things, but eliminating mass amounts of plants or animals, especially invasive species that we spread around ourselves, like the Asian tiger mosquitos that have invaded the east coast is A LOT harder.

[@CeliaTyree]

.

[@dynamicworlds1]

@Dream Delirium counterpoint: Smallpox. If we can just target the mosquito species we want, it shouldn't have a significant effect. We're still working on the tech for that (rather than our grossly heavy-handed past measures), but it should be something we can do before long.

[@mertgunes9854]

This video is like 3-4 months late ...

[@TheFlubber33]

3 days ago the fuckers seemed to double

[@voongnz]

Perfect timing for me though.

[@Primalxbeast]

Not in Florida

[@dickJohnsonpeter]

sketti boi yes they sure the hell did. Like every mosquito that was here all summer just showed back up all at once.

[@mon6745]

Not really.. my ankles got tore up last night

[@wendellwhite5797]

When I was young, living in the tropics. It took two weeks and no more skeeter bites. Now, I never have any problem with them anymore. I've worked in the bayous in LA and never had any problems whilst my coworkers were ravaged by them.

[@thestateofalaska]

Okay I have a weird story about this. I grew up in Michigan and mosquitos have always been a huge problem. I’m talking a leg full of bites anytime I went outside for more than a few minutes. Then a couple years ago I came to Florida for college. Not a single mosquito bite for the duration of the school year. I figured maybe I just wasn’t allergic to the mosquitos down here, but then when I go home over the summer: nothing. I went from having horrible reactions to mosquitos to no reaction in just a couple of days. It’s been two years now and I’m still bite free.

[@drered7180]

Something about Florida skeeters...

[@unleashingpotential-psycho9433]

Benadryl is my friend against mosquito bites.

[@rockets4kids]

Though mostly because you can't be annoyed by them when you are asleep.

[@LMacNeill]

Because you can't scratch when you're in a coma.

[@billybob-hv5hl]

I took 4 benadryl and woke up in another decade

[@leahhatcher7423]

Benadryl and hydrocortisone don't work for me. Probably goging to have to get a prescirption next summer.

[@LivvyBooks]

I wish but benadryl causes me to be horribly dizzy with a sense of vertigo.

[@SagaciousEagle]

I don't mind feeding the mosquitoes with my blood, but once upon a time a mosquito gave me a present, and it was dengue. Thank you very much.

[@curiousfirely]

Ah ha ha! As a Field Biologist, I suspected this effect. The first few weeks of field season I react to bites, but then I mostly stop reacting to mosquito bites. So, maintenance dose required annually, but I super appreciate fewer reactions!!

[@jared8515]

Wait.. there are actual sane human beings breeding *MOSQUITOES?!*

[@RenshiErmine]

No. No sane person would do that. Only people who have lost their minds breed them.

[@NTDang]

Keep your friends close and your enemy's even closer.

[@tinaleeth2707]

The government breeds them. For real

[@cocothedrcat9625]

They're bred for study

[@VampageRampage]

CocoTheDrCat Study of what, what diseases we can’t create in them and spread?! Wipe me out for good!

[@raylliej1]

I’m usually a mosquito magnet. We LOVE to go camping, unfortunately so do the mosquitoes. I accidentally found out, at least for myself, that Claritin & Zyrtec have both helped me. Didn’t completely stop them, but for the most part they do not hurt as much when they bite. I told my nephew on a camping trip once, same went for him. So it’s definitely worth a try.

[@nomadtc]

Vitamin B12 I think! Used to work at an outdoor store and we sold these patches you'd put on your arm... The body absorbs it through the skin AND IT WORKS. You sweat/ body odour changes and mosquitos don't touch you. Or else it's only the really brave ones.. So like 2/3 bites from a weekend camping instead of 50. Also we think you get drunker as well for some reason soooo bonus baby!

[@mitchelldavidson1821]

I always found it odd but I barely get bitten by mosquitos much less have reactions to them. My dad says it's the same for him. Do mosquitos dislike certain blood types more or somthing?

[@freeeggs3811]

It is genetics.

[@vekavex6606]

Poor bunny

[@chrisgin8417]

Veka Vex shut da hell up

[@nziom]

Poor man.

[@VivaLaLandis]

n ziom the man consented to this. The bunny did not and was forced.

[@NickoAle]

As soon as i saw the title i thought, "this is gonna involve me being a mosquito all you can eat buffet, isn't it?" 25sec in to the video... Jupp....

[@ypcomchic]

Considering they just found mosquitoes that have dengue fever here in California I think I’ll pass trying to become immune!!

[@jmvneto51]

You got that right! My wife has chikungunya now and she had dengue twice, and that was a piece of cake in comparison. She was kind of proud that I was so sensitive to mosquito bites that I would get up from bed and go on a hunt just by listening any zzzzzzzyng close to my ears. No (edited: Now.. ) she is just suffering the worst illness that I've seen on her. It Is pain all over her body all day long and the prognostics for a complete cure are dim. No, I, do not want to be discencitized, Chikungunya arrived in Brasil around 2016 and I want to be complete aware that those suckers are around! Cheers!

[@ypcomchic]

@@jmvneto51 wow! So sorry to hear that. Praying for you and your family! All these doctors and scientists have known about these diseases for years yet nobody has made a vaccine! It's not right.

[@jmvneto51]

@@ypcomchic, thank you for the concern and be aware of the illnesses mosquitoes can be spreading in your region. They suck!

[@adriennefloreen]

They didn't have the guy bitten by enough mosquitoes. I still reacted to bites after almost two months at a rainbow gathering where I got more than 100 bites per day on each square inch of exposed flesh. In my video they're joking saying I got the measles there because I'm so covered with bites it looks like I did.

[@william2331]

I tried it and now I have the West Nile virus

[@chinoex]

This is true. They've been biting me since covid and I was frustrated at how quick they are. Now I just don't bother attempting to swat them while I workout. There's a lesson in that. Stay focused and don't let the mosquitos of life distract you.

[@davidjenson1570]

Wow, that was extremely helpful!!!

[@kvkcoils8011]

Great info, thanks

[@potatopotato4887]

You’re literally in all my science classes!!! And now your on trending! 😂

[@EyeHeartThePanda]

My reaction to mosquitoes bites from the NW (mainly Oregon) is super minor. However, I was bitten by one while living in Austin Texas and my reaction was significantly worse. It is kind of crazy how different locations can affect the level of reaction. In contrast, I didn't have much of a reaction for the mosquitoes that bit me while living in Japan. Crazy XD

[@6135minecraft]

that's probably because they are different species....

[@turtle4llama]

It's because they're different species. I don't know why they didn't make that clear in the video.

[@taradreams3]

Same, I never had much reaction living in New Mexico, then while moving to Florida I got bitten in Louisiana and I had a major reaction.

[@sammjust2233]

I have the same thing, eastern United States I get nothing but in other places I react

[@Primalxbeast]

Dream Delirium Your friends are my type of people, I like to have a tall person ride in front of me while bike riding on trails, because they catch all the spider webs.

[@Mei_mcz]

Thanks Hank! I learned more about why my body reacts to mosquitoes and was always curious why I react. I think I’ll pass on your desensitization method. It was interesting to learn more though:). I wish you the best Hank and send support.🍀

[@howdythere3121]

This has happened to me! As a child I spent summers with my grandparents in Mississippi. I played outdoors in the woods and at the creek from sun up to dark most days. I was eaten up constantly! My ankles were scabbed over all the time. As an adult I hardly ever get a bite that causes a welt or itches. Now I am the only one in my family who can go out and not be bothered by them.

[@andresrebata1958]

Nice video! I have ulcerative colitis and am definitely interested in how the immune system works. My disease has held me back a lot but hopefully soon I'll graduate and will work on a cure!

[@wastyeasty8042]

Thanks for getting my hopes up, Hank :( I have super severe reactions to mosquitoes. My bites swell to at least the size of a half dollar.

[@hoplage]

Mad respect to the human who voluntarily chose to walk around with 150 itchy mosquito bites for half a year FOR SCIENCE.

[@chloukscolor7905]

This is interesting. You see, I have always been a mosquito magnet. I used to get bitten a lot, still kind of do. Once, I got bitten so much people thought my parents had beaten me up. Yeah, it was that bad. But in the last few years, I’ve realized that my body’s reaction to them has mellowed out. I’ll still get bitten, mind you, but the bite will only scratch for a short-ish period of time (1-2h maybe ?), and then the bump will sort of spread and flatten and disappear in 24h. Good to know that it is a phenomenon that is recorded to happen.

[@chloukscolor7905]

Also I forgot to add : once you’ve been bitten, apply very hot water on the bite. After that, it won’t scratch anymore. My guess is that the temperature destroys the proteins injected by the mosquito.

[@uss_04]

RIP anyone who becomes “desensitized” to bedbug bites.

[@bumblingbears2933]

I was talking about bee allergies with my dentist when he relayed a story of a friend of his who went through a desensitization treatment for bee stings. He was severely allergic at the beginning, but by the end of the treatment had no reaction. Amazing! ...until a little while later he was on a boat, got stung, and went into anaphylactic shock. Since he no longer had an epipen, thinking he was "cured", he ultimately suffered long-term brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. So, uh- yeah. While cool on the surface level, be wary of the long-term repercussions?

[@kataseiko]

When I was reading the title, I was somewhat hoping for a version of this where the mosquito will die even trying to get through the skin..

[@broddr]

I was hoping for a way to make our blood allergic _for_ mosquitoes. So they would get a bad reaction and learn to avoid humans.

[@anyascelticcreations]

I actually did become almost completely immune to mosquitos. I spent 25 years in Wisconsin. As a kid I remember going out in my back yard and counting over 200 bites on my legs alone that night. I spent a ton of time outside every summer there. I was always covered in bites when the weather was nice. Eventually I just quit reacting to mosquitos. After those 25 years I moved to Texas and noticed that the mosquitos were different there. I did react to those a little bit, but not for long. Eleven years later I moved to Arkansas. I know I've been bitten here too but have barely reacted at all. Cool, huh!? I don't think I'm willing to go through that to become immune to chiggers, though.

[@anthonyrice6713]

I was born and raised in Minnesota, a swampland. Plentiful in mosquitoes. I've definitely noticed a reduction in reactions when I get bit. These days a bite causes a tiny red bump that doesn't itch. 20 years ago it would cause a welt that itched like crazy. My advice, mosquitoes HATE smoke. Sit near a campfire. Also, itching your bites causes them to itch more. Don't even think about touching a bite. Burning a bite stops itching BTW.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

You are kinda wrong. Mosquitoes are attracted to c02. It will actually raise the amount of mosquitoes in the area. But if you are sitting close enough to the fire the overwhelming heat keeps them from finding your capillaries.

[@amberbydreamsart5467]

"the more you stay in one region, the less your reaction seems to be" THATS WHY MOSQUITO BITES WERE SO BAD WHEN I WAS STUDYING ABROAD

[@arthas640]

thats also why people in tropical reagions barely notice mosquitos

[@ilovetotri23]

Great video!

[@adammcinnes5615]

Both my dad and I are generally immune to mosquito bites, and I have been this way for as long as I can remember. I have looked down and seen a mosquito full of blood and had not noticed, and seen mosquitoes on my dad's face full of blood and he never noticed. I never learned to not scratch mosquito bites because of this, so the first time that I was bitten in my late 20s by an insect whose bite I react to (sandflies), the itching drove me crazy and I developed horrible red looking rashes from the scratching.

[@LadyLightningstorm]

I think I'm part of that percentage that is naturally tolerant. I barely get bitten, thankfully, but they really don't affect me that much when I do.

[@jaspermaris3340]

Are you O+, because that is a significant factor in the probability of getting bitten.

[@LadyLightningstorm]

Trinity Cadence I think I am, but I'm not sure.

[@Bryan-Hensley]

You probably just don't realize you are getting bit. We just had 4 people to die in the past few months in my state from West Nile virus.