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Scientists create the fabric that can block the bite of mosquitoes, but comfortable

Mosquito bites are a significant threat to people living in tropical countries. Even when people wear full-sleeved clothing or have a net around their bed, the mosquito can still bite. Because these fabrics have gaps between the fibers, insects can easily bite through them.

An Auburn University entomologist has discovered a simple but effective solution to this problem and published it in a scientific paper

The unique fabric

The university team has created a new fabric that blocks mosquito bites. It was developed in such a way as to make the fabric waterproof the mosquito's proboscis (the needle-like tubular structure used to suck blood).

“We create micro-resolution mosquito bite blocking meshes produced by robotic manufacturing to protect humans from vector-borne diseases,” reads the pre-print research paper.

The team used special knitting machines programmed with different patterns to find the one that best blocked a sting. “These designs were integrated into a computer numerically controlled knitting robot for mass production of bite-blocking garments with minimal human labor ,” the paper adds.

Eventually, after testing elaborate combinations, they created a unique geometric pattern that doesn't allow the proboscis to pass through clothing.

So they looked for the best textile fiber for hot climate countries and developed a spandex-polyester blended fabric. They chose this fabric to make it comfortable and wearable in tropical weather conditions where mosquito-borne diseases are a significant concern. The final prototype was tested against Aedes aegypti and Psorophora howardii.

“Our findings give people the power to protect themselves against vector-borne diseases in warm climates. The manufacturing process of these textile garments reduces human labor and has no negative impact on the environment,” reads the document.

Mosquito bites kill hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year. Malaria, dengue fever and West Nile virus are common diseases spread by mosquito bites.

The team, like many others, is also studying genetic modifications in mosquitoes so as not to make them more dangerous to humans, even if this process is much more complex and it is not easy to understand whether it will be successful or not.


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The article Scientists create the fabric capable of blocking the mosquito bite, but comfortable comes from Economic Scenarios .


This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/scienziati-creano-il-tessuto-in-grado-di-bloccare-la-puntura-della-zanzare-ma-confortevole/ on Thu, 25 May 2023 18:07:38 +0000.