How dangerous a tiny mosquito can be, you can guess easily by looking at the statistics related to malaria, dengue and Zika virus deaths. This tiny creature is a monster when it comes to killing people or making them very sick. Now a billboard, in order to fight the Zika virus is trying to do its own part by killing mosquitoes. Yes! You heard it right-A billboard that kills mosquitoes.
This billboard has been created by the agencies Posterscope and NBS. The billboard emits carbon dioxide and a lactic acid solution to mimic human breathing and sweat. Because of these two, mosquitoes are attracted towards the billboard, get trapped inside and die. This is to note that more than 1.5 million Zika cases have been recorded in Brazil since April 2015. This virus is so dangerous that it can lead to a condition called microcephaly, which causes babies to be born with abnormally smaller heads.
Till now, two billboards have been installed in Rio de Janeiro and the creators want to install more. According to the creators the billboards are designed in such a way that they attract the Aedes aegypti mosquito- the species responsible for transmitting Zika. The billboards have the ability to attract the mosquitoes within a radius of 2.5 kilometres.
Though the WHO is encouraging mosquito traps to bring down the population of mosquitoes and hence curb the spread of Zika, Chris Jackson, a pest control expert at the University of Southampton pointed out an important fact regarding the billboards.
He said that though this method is contributing in reducing the mosquito population it could inadvertently cause more people to be bitten depending on where it is placed. He opined: “Maybe if it was not in a high-density place where people are sitting perhaps with exposed legs, otherwise you are pulling in hungry mosquitoes and providing them with exposed human flesh.” Good point! The creators should give a serious thought to what Jackson has said otherwise the whole motive of installing these billboards will be doomed.
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Author: Technology and Beyond
