Good News This morning, a Tanzanain scientist just might have discovered a possible a new tech fight against Malaria...with Smelly socks!! (Who woulda thought right?)
Researchers in Tanzania [spearheaded by Fredros Okumu, a Ph.D. candidate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in England] have chemically reproduced the stench of smelly feet in an innovative new approach to combat the spread of malaria in the country.
Mosquitoes are lured inside the boxes by the synthetic odor, which is dispersed by a solar-powered fan. Once inside, the insects are either trapped or poisoned and left to die.
“This is a great example of an African innovator, with an African innovation, tackling an African problem,” [said the head of the non-profit co-funding the project.]
"The goal is to eliminate malaria," said scientific researcher, Fredros Okumu, who is developing the technology. "We are going to do this by tackling the transmission of disease outside the house."
Mosquitoes are lured inside the boxes by the synthetic odor, which is dispersed by a solar-powered fan. Once inside, the insects are either trapped or poisoned and left to die.
"We know mosquitoes don't see people, they smell them." Okumu said.
The result, said Okumu, was a chemical blend that "smelt just like dirty socks."
"Substances we emit when we sweat, such as lactic acid, act as a signal to mosquitoes ... The aim here was to produce a mixture that would mimic a human being."
"If you came to our lab when the research was being done, you would have thought that someone had just come off a soccer field," he admitted.
Source:CNN
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