RALEIGH, N.C. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – It’s a summertime health risk that you often don’t think of. West Nile, Zika, chikungunya, or malaria – spread by the bite of an infected mosquito. Almost 3,000 Americans were sickened with West Nile in recent years, and about 2,000 Americans are diagnosed with malaria every year. Now, scientists at North Carolina State University have developed special mosquito-proof material that may be a game changer.
Hard to imagine something so small can do so much damage. One bite from an infected mosquito may be all it takes.
“It’s actually injecting saliva into your body,” explains Michael Roe, PhD, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor and entomologist at N.C. State University .
Professor Roe and a team of researchers have been testing non-toxic ways to protect human skin.
PhD graduate student at N.C. State University, Grayson Cave, says, “There’s nothing like an actual being for attracting the insects.”
Even when you cover up, you’re not out of reach. Mosquitoes can bite through clothing. So, these scientists used mathematical equations to design material that mosquitoes can’t bite through.
Professor Roe further demonstrates the material and says, “It has to do with the pore size. If you make the pore size small enough, their mouth parts can’t go through it. The tortuosity of the path they have to go through to get to your skin is also important.”
The researchers tested the material on the forearm of a team member, reaching into a cage with about 100 disease-free mosquitoes. Not a single mosquito was able to bite through.
Professor Roe’s fascination with insects is more than 50 years in the making, fueled by his high school 4H club.
“I was the kid walking around the high school with a butterfly net,” he recalls.
Others were drawn to the research by an interest in science but stay because they’re committed to making a difference.
Cave expresses, “We all spend a lot of time doing this – sticking our arms in mosquito cages or sleeping under bed nets here – because we really feel that a lot of this stuff here is something that can help.”
The researchers also tested a shirt initially designed for military use. A volunteer stood and sat in a cage filled with mosquitoes for 10 minutes and was 100 percent protected. An N.C. State University startup company, Vector Textiles, has licensed the patent rights and will make clothing for commercial sale in the United States.
Contributors to this news report include: Cyndy McGrath, Producer; Kirk Manson, Videographer; Roque Correa, Editor.
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Sources:
https://www.statista.com/topics/4264/mosquito-borne-diseases-in-the-us/
https://news.ncsu.edu/2021/07/mosquito-resistant-clothing-prevents-bites-in-trials/
MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS
RESEARCH SUMMARY
TOPIC: GAME-CHANGING GARMENTS: MOSQUITO-FREE
REPORT: MB #5101
BACKGROUND: Mosquitoes are common, flying insects that live in most parts of the world. Over 3,500 types of mosquitoes can be found worldwide. Over 200 types of mosquitoes live in the continental United States and US territories; of these 200, about 12 types spread germs that can make people sick. According to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, mosquito-borne diseases kill some 725,000 people a year. Malaria alone accounts for 600,000 of that number.
(Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/about/what-is-a-mosquito.html
https://www.cdc.gov/mosquitoes/about/mosquitoes-in-the-us.html
DIAGNOSING: Mosquito bites are caused by female mosquitoes feeding on your blood. Female mosquitoes have a mouthpart made to pierce skin and siphon off blood. Males lack this blood-sucking ability because they don’t produce eggs and so have no need for protein in blood. Mosquito bite signs include a puffy, white, and reddish bump that appears a few minutes after the bite, a hard, itchy, reddish-brown bump, or multiple bumps, appearing a day or so after the bite or bites, small blisters instead of hard bumps, and dark spots that look like bruises. Children are more likely to develop a severe reaction than are adults, because many adults have had mosquito bites throughout their lives and become desensitized.
(Source: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/mosquito-bites/symptoms-causes/syc-20375310)
NEW TECHNOLOGY: The one thing worse than a buzzing mosquito is its bite – and those affected know that the itching is enough to drive one almost insane. Up to now, most remedies have focused on alleviating the itchiness. However, a start-up company has now developed a wristband that prevents mosquitoes from biting in the first place. The core component of the Nopixgo wristband is the module containing bio pulse technology. It operates using low-power electromagnetic pulses and waves that influence the biting behavior of mosquitoes. The insects perceive these impulses through their hair-like sensory organs. An instinct embedded in their DNA immediately triggers a protective reaction that inhibits the mosquitoes’ biting behavior or causes them to flee. In this way, the wristband drastically reduces the risk of a mosquito bite within a radius of two meters.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT, PLEASE CONTACT:
Lauren Barker
(910) 528-2285
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