Different mosquito species prefer different people. Understanding what makes some people “mosquito magnets” could help scientists develop new ways to combat mosquito-borne diseases, Euronews reports.

Each mosquito species has its own type, according to research published in iScience, which tested the attraction of three mosquito species—yellow-fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti), Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), and southern house mosquito (Culex quinquefasciatus)—to 119 people in Miami, Florida.

Mosquitoes find hosts using a combination of signals, including carbon dioxide, body odor, heat, humidity and visual cues. Human scent is itself an extraordinarily complex chemical mixture, containing hundreds of volatile compounds. Differences in those compounds—some produced or modified by bacteria living on the skin—can help mosquitoes distinguish between people.

Researchers found that some people were highly attractive to more than one mosquito species, but no one in the study was among the most attractive to all three. In other words, being particularly appealing to one species did not necessarily make someone particularly appealing to another.

The yellow-fever mosquito showed a slight preference for male participants and was associated with particular patterns of volatile compounds and skin bacteria, while the Asian tiger mosquito was drawn to elevated ketones and plant-like volatile compounds naturally secreted by skin. The southern house mosquito is active at night and was attracted by the microscopic ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, and microbes naturally living on people’s skin.