Now, Your Body Odour Can Fatally Trap Mosquitoes

                A new type of mosquito trap running on solar electricity and using human odour as bait has cut the insect population by 70% on a malaria-ridden island in Kenya. The three year study, conducted by scientists from Netherlands, along with Kenyan and Swiss scientists, also found 30% fewer malaria victims in houses that had traps than in those that did not. Although the traps appeared quite effective at lowering mosquito populations, they had some significant drawbacks. Because they need power form solar panels, they are relatively expensive. Still, the panes appealed to residents who could also use them to power a light bulb or charge a cell phone.

                Also the traps – which resemble lampshades and hang just outside the house – lured in Anopheles funestus mosquitoes, the most important malaria vector on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria, where the test was conducted. But they did not attract Anopheles gambiae or Anopheles arabiensis, which are much more important malaria vectors in most of Africa, where more than 400,000 children die of the disease each year.

Also, the traps needed regular rebaiting with a blend of five chemical constituents of human odour along with a chemical that mimicks carbon dioxide plume created by breath. Mosquito traps releasing carbon dioxide are available in the US, but they can cost hundreds of dollars; can sometimes require propane tanks, electricity or dry ice; and may not be effective. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently tested simple bucket traps that caught egg-laying females by using water and hay as bait and sticky paper to kill.