Researchers do not lack imagination to fight against mosquitoes. Scientists at the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) in Switzerland have developed a solar-powered mosquito trap that attracts insects and captures them. This innovative project has shown its effectiveness, according to the results of a study published in the medical journal The Lancet. It is also capable of producing electricity for lighting and charging mobile phones.
The trap attracts insects using a mixture simulating human odor, made of lactic acid and other substances emitted by the skin. As soon as the mosquitoes approach it, they are captured by a fan that runs on solar energy.
A conclusive test
Tested on Rusinga Island, Kenya, this solar mosquito trap has reduced the mosquito population by 70% and malaria contamination by 30%. “This is the first study showing a decrease in infections with malaria in humans using mosquito traps,” explains Thomas Smith of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), quoted by the Tribune de Genève. The population received 4,500 mosquito traps.
“The trap could also be used against other diseases. In addition to the Anopheles mosquitoes that carry malaria, it also attracts Aedes aegypti, which transmits the Zika virus or that of dengue, says Thomas Smith.
This finding is encouraging because the malaria causes 584,000 deaths per year, according to the World Health Organization, and affects 198 million people worldwide.
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