Scientists: Stinky sock smell helps fight malaria

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AF_STINKY_FEET_MALARIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-07-13-07-45-52

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- The smell of old socks can help fight malaria by attracting mosquitoes to a trap outdoors, scientists have found, and on Wednesday donors announced new funding to help develop the device.

Traps scented with the odor of human feet attracted four times as many mosquitoes as a human volunteer, said Dr. Fredros Okumu, the head of the research project at Tanzania's Ifakara Health Institute. Mosquitoes who fly into the trap are then poisoned.

Bed nets and indoor spraying have already substantially reduced the number of fatal malaria cases, but so far scientists have not come up with a good way to help combat mosquitoes outdoors.

Although the global infection rate of malaria is going down, there are still more than 220 million new cases of malaria each year. The U.N. says almost 800,000 of those people die. Most of them are children in Africa.

[HopeHoops]

1. Then there is THIS approach...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R62Vzp4bXmA

[marmar]

2. Hey, whatever works.....

:P

[Raschel]

3. My son could be a primary donor!!