The worst thing about feeding hundreds of mosquitoes on your own blood is not the itching – if you do it enough times, your body gets used to the bites. It’s not even the pain, although it is always painful since the mosquitoes will use their snouts to root about your flesh in search of a blood vessel.
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In the war against malaria, one small corner of the globe has repeatedly turned the tide, rendering our best weapons moot and medicine on the brink of defeat. Ed Yong reports.
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Researchers at Rice University have a new, laser-powered way to diagnose malaria infection. They say it’s the first through-the-skin method that doesn’t require blood samples or chemical tests. Essentially, it listens for belly sounds as the malaria parasite chows down on blood cells. If it pans out, it could revolutionize how we diagnose this disease.
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Malaria research has been advancing rapidly in recent years
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For the first time in history, scientists have completed successful human trials of a malaria vaccine that provides 100% protection against the often fatal disease.
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Those evil mosquitoes just keep on biting. They’re carriers of deadly diseases like dengue fever and malaria and every day, kids get bites that could turn out to be fatal. There are a lot of anti-mosquito and anti-insect lotions and sprays being sold, but they’re a cause for concern sometimes to parents who worry about slathering their kids in repellents that contain DEET.
Then along came Kite. Kite is a patch that is supposed to be stuck on the person’s clothing. Once it’s there, it can make the wearer “invisible” to mosquitoes for up to 48 hours. Unlike most conventional mosquito repellants, Kite uses non-toxic compounds that interrupt the mosquito’s ability to find people through carbon dioxide detection.
The technology was developed by Olfactor Laboratories and the University of California with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.
A project to send Kite patches to Uganda is currently up for funding on Indiegogo, and has already generated more than 3.5 times its goal with over a month left to raise funds.
[via C|NET]
If there’s one thing that I despise, it’s mosquitoes. The thing is that if they get into my bedroom or apartment, they will suck on my blood relentlessly, leaving everyone else alone. Maybe that’s one of the reasons I need the LG Anti-Mosquito Air Conditioner.
This LG Anti-Mosquito AC was designed for the African market, like in Nigeria were malaria is still a major threat to life. Since mosquitoes are carriers of this disease, it makes sense trying to get rid of as many as possible. The AC uses ultrasonic wave technology which is supposed to repel mosquitoes. According to LG’s tests, the AC has a success rate of 64% when it comes to deterring malaria-transmitting anopheles mosquitoes in 24 hours. Overall, it manages to repel 82% of mozzies. The unit has also been designed to deal with power fluctuations and brownouts prevalent in some African countries.
While it’s primarily targeted at Africa, I could see this being useful in any warm and humid climate where mosquitoes like to breed.
[via Ubergizmo]
Researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa have developed a pill that can wipe out malaria with a single dose. It’s a development that could save millions of lives in Africa alone, not to mention the rest of the world. But there’s a teensy weensy little hurdle that must first be overcome: human testing. More »
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