http://www.smh.com.au/world/dirty-sock-noses-into-tanzanian-malaria-combat-20110713-1he52.html
Dirty sock noses into Tanzanian malaria combat David Brown, Washington July 14, 2011 IN GLOBAL public health, disease-fighting tools that are cheap, available and sustainable are the Holy Grail. It might be hard to top the one being tested in Tanzania to prevent malaria: smelly socks. Experiments in three villages where people get about 350 bites a year from malaria-infected mosquitoes are using dirty socks to lure the insects into traps, where they become contaminated with chemical poisons and die. ''Who would have thought there was a life-saving technology working in your laundry basket?'' said Peter Singer, a physician who heads Grand Challenges Canada, a development agency of the Canadian government helping to fund the research. Advertisement: Story continues below ''Socks are more readily available, and you don't have to mix any chemicals,'' said Fredros Okumu, the Tanzanian entomologist leading the research. ''It is the sort of thing that could be set up in a cottage factory.'' The traps are square boxes that look a little like commercial beehives. Some will contain human-odour bait, which consists of simple chemicals that are exuded by people, especially from the legs and feet. Some will contain socks worn for a day by adults. The researchers will compare the number of mosquitoes caught with each method. A key question is where to place traps. They need to be close enough to dwellings to attract mosquitoes, but not so close that they will increase people's exposure to the disease-carrying insects. WASHINGTON POST Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/dirty-sock-noses-into-tanzanian-malaria-combat-20110713-1he52.html#ixzz1S1qPz1GU [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
