Protection for the night: when it gets dark in the tropics, Anopheles mosquitoes swarm out into the villages.
At night mosquitoes emerge from the wetlands and seek out their victims. One bite is enough to enable the insects to drink their fill of blood. Yet they often leave behind a deadly reminder of their visit in people’s blood: parasites that cause malaria, one of the most dangerous tropical diseases. Every year more than 880,000 people die of this disease worldwide, more than 85 percent of them children under five.
Lasting protection against mosquitoes
The most important form of protection against infection by these flying bloodsuckers is a fine-mesh net with a weave as fine as a bride’s veil. Researchers from Bayer CropScience have now found a way of incorporating insecticides directly into the fibers of a plastic fabric to provide people in the tropics with long-term night-time protection against mosquitoes. You can read here how the active ingredient gets into the nets and provides lasting protection against mosquitoes.