Chemical Warfare and Malaria?
For a little on what’s happening with Malaria and some parts of Africa, which seems to be a duplicate scenario stamped on a lot of struggling African countries, refer to a previous blog post of mine here.
As recently as a few weeks ago, Nature published research done by US scientists analyzing a potential breakthrough in mosquito repellent. Mosquitos actually rely on CO2 emitted from exhaling to track down their meals and can detect extremely small variations in the CO2 levels near them (explaining why they seem to circle around you for a bit). Though this information is already used is some modern mosquito traps, the products are often too costly for developing countries to acquire, allowing the mosquito problem to continue.
In attempt to end the unbridled love affair between disease and mosquito, the US scientists began experimenting with the idea of releasing chemicals capable of disrupting the CO2 scent mosquitos target and pursue. Three mosquito types were studied and all three were transporters of deadly diseases including malaria, filariasis, west nile, dengue, and yellow fever, who infect half a billion people a year, killing millions.
It worked.
Several chemicals were tested. One of the chemicals copied CO2 traces and is said to be capable of being used as bait to lead them to mosquito traps (or in the case of the poor countries, perhaps a FIREY PIT OF DOOM - or something equivalent). Another chemical actually disabled their CO2 receptors, meaning they were unable to track any victim and would move on with their lives. The last chemical surveyed actually tricked their CO2 censors into thinking it was all around them (think of a terrible, terrible acid trip). Mindful of cost-effectiveness, clearly the last two chemicals would seem the most feasible for developing nations to deploy.
Critics of the study praise it for unlocking an important component of understanding how to completely eliminate the threat of disease spreading through mosquitos, but point out that mosquitos don’t depend on just the CO2 emitted by people. The entire process involves a complex cocktail consisting of multiple chemicals, moisture, heat, and even visual cues.
REGARDLESS - this is a step in the right direction and is more ammunition in the fight against disease. In fact, it may even be a useful tool in the near future since things like visual cues cannot be solved. At the very least it’s a break in the current malaria stasis and something to be added to the repertoire to be enhanced later.
Till then, smell you later.
