4 types of people mosquitos love to bite

After a long, summer day of barbecue and pick-up sports, you may find yourself covered in mosquito bites… while your friends are virtually untouched. 

So what makes certain people more attractive to mosquitoes? It depends, mostly, on your genetics; 20 percent of people are considered "high attractors," meaning they're especially prone to bites.

Mosquito bites are generally harmless, aside from being bit painful and usually very itchy. But with mosquito-bourne illnesses such as Zika, malaria and West Nile virus popping up, it doesn't hurt to protect yourself.

Click through to see what attracts mosquitoes to certain kinds of people—and how you can avoid becoming one of their primary targets.