Fatal Attraction

                                                              

 Fatal Attraction

 

Studies reveal an uncomfortable truth: humans are among the smelliest creatures on earth — and your scent can prove deadly.

 

The pungent odor rising from adult human skin is unusual in the animal kingdom. Unlike most mammals, we emit scent from nearly every inch of our bodies. Add to that the billions of microorganisms living on our skin, each busily metabolizing sweat and skin compounds into airborne chemicals, and you have a remarkably complex bouquet.

 

That distinctive human odor turns out to be a beacon for mosquitoes — arguably the deadliest animals on the planet. Scientists are still sorting out precisely which elements of human sweat make us so irresistible, but one thing is clear: our scent sets us apart from other mammals in ways mosquitoes can easily detect.

 

The toll is staggering. Mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit have killed more people than all the wars in history combined. Even today, malaria alone infects hundreds of millions and claims well over a million lives annually worldwide. Add yellow fever, dengue, encephalitis, and a host of other mosquito-borne illnesses, and the numbers climb even higher.

 

Here’s how it works. Microorganisms on our skin feed on whatever sweat and secretions provide. In doing so, they convert non-volatile compounds into volatile organic compounds — VOCs — that readily evaporate into the air. These “sweat-associated human volatiles” are precisely what attract anthropophilic (human-loving) mosquitoes, including those that carry life-threatening diseases.

 

We often assume animals smell worse than we do. Science says otherwise. Studies of birds and other mammals show they produce significantly fewer volatile organic compounds on their skin than humans. They simply don’t broadcast scent the way we do.

 

Antiperspirants try to dam the flood. Aluminum-based compounds temporarily plug sweat glands, reducing perspiration and masking odors. Old Spice, Right Guard, Secret, Degree, no matter what might be your anti-perspirant of choice, no product fully eliminates those VOCs. The chemistry of being human persists.

And if you’ve ever tried breathing through your mouth while hustling the grandkids through the Primate House on a humid summer afternoon at the zoo, consider this final twist: researchers comparing human skin glands with those of other primates concluded that, in fundamental ways, we smell remarkably similar.

 

In other words — we smell like chimps.

 

Epilogue:

The first modern antiperspirant is generally credited to Edna L. Murphey.

Around 1910, Edna Murphey began marketing a product called Odorono (“odor? oh no!”).

The formula was originally developed by her father, a surgeon, to reduce excessive sweating of the hands during surgery. Murphey saw its commercial potential and began selling it to women to control underarm perspiration.