Possible Explanations for the Flea Biting Preference
While science is yet to provide a solid explanation for such a phenomenon, a lot of logical reasons have been widely accepted as possible reasons why fleas bite more people than others. Let’s have a brief overview of each one of these theories:
Bodily Scents and the Chemical Makeup of the Skin
The first and most common theory that a lot of people stand behind is the individual differences between the chemical makeups of human skins.
In other words, different skin reactions, as well as the levels of gases, differs between humans depending on their genes.
For example, some people may produce more carbon dioxide than others from their skin reactions, which is a common attractant to various blood-sucking insects and pests, such as fleas.
In addition to the chemical makeup, other people believe that fleas are simply attracted to some scents more than others.
This is why they might prefer a certain individual due to their natural body scent, sweat, and/or the products they apply to their skin, such as soaps, shower gels, deodorants, etc.
In fact, one of the reasons why this explanation is widely adopted compared to other ones is that it explains why certain foods might prevent fleas from biting you.
For example, some people claimed that fleas are much less likely to bite them when they eat more garlic, curry, onions, and other pungent plants that are known to repel the fleas and are found as by-products in sweat.
Additional Exposure to Fleas
As previously mentioned, fleas are attracted to cats and dogs more than humans. Moreover, certain aspects will attract more fleas to your house than others. For example, if you don’t mow your lawn more often.
Additionally, pet bedding and carpets that aren’t cleaned regularly can be a safe haven for fleas, which allows them to thrive and multiply in numbers.
This increases the flea population’s demand for blood, so they start biting humans more often, which tricks them into thinking that they get bitten much more than others.
Some Bodies React More Obviously to Slightest Bites
Another alternative theory that explains why some people are more likely to get bitten by fleas is that their bodies are genetically much more reactive than others.
In this theory, fleas might bite other people around you. However, the threshold of pain and the amount of histamine released (the inflammatory mediator that causes the reddish swollen bumps on the skin) varies from one individual to the other, tricking you into thinking that you’re being singled out by fleas.
