Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Science is Settled: Smelly Socks Help Fight Malaria

I suppose the lingering question is this: Are people willing to put up with the dreaded stinkfoot in the fight to combat malaria?
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.
New funding? Why not just collect old sneakers?
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.


RamblingMother said...

hope they aren't using the banned DDT to poison them ::snark::.  Too bad we think more highly of birds than humans or this malaria would have been gone long ago.

Teqjack said...

In over sixty years of being bitten, I must have forgotten that 3 of 4 bites were on my feet.

Still, if it works and is cheap, go for it!