With malaria claiming around 400,000 lives annually in the African region, the battle against the carriers of this disease, mosquitoes, still rages on. In this new study, a new material has been proven to be an effective insecticide against these tiny yet deadly creatures. What’s more, it’s even more effective than the regular pesticide, which the mosquitoes are becoming more and more resistant to.
The volcanic glass material used in this new intervention is perlite, an industrial mineral most frequently used in building materials and in gardens as a soil additive. The tested insecticide created from perlite, called Imergard WP, can be applied to interior walls and ceilings—and perhaps even inside roofs—as an indoor residual spray. The spray contains no additional chemicals, is not toxic to mammals and will be cost effective. Early results show that mosquitoes do not appear to have resistance to the perlite spray.
More details about this study over at PHYS.org.
(Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
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Borax has been used the same way to control ants and roaches. Of course, those are crawling insects. Interesting that mosquitos land on hard surfaces before biting. Wonder if I could apply this to the stucco of my house.
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flamethrower
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