LURE MOSQUITOES WITH SOCKS?

The latest report shows that there may be an upside for having smelly feet. Let's find out from our Jennifer Chang, who will explain how the foul odor of your sweaty socks may be the key in preventing mosquito attacks.

People might find smelly feet and socks disgusting, but mosquitoes find them irresistible. Why is that? Scientists have found that such unattractive smell can actually attract four times as many of the deadly parasites as the scent of a human body. The result is confirmed in an experiment conducted in three Tanzanian villages where the locals get up to 350 bites a year from malaria-infected mosquitoes. And of course, clever scientists are making good use of their findings, by setting up traps with stinky socks as bait. Easily available dirty socks will be placed in wooden boxes, and once mosquitoes fly into the traps, they'll be killed by the poisons.

With malaria killing around 800,000 people, mostly children, a year worldwide, it is highly hoped that the devices will fight off the spread of the deadly disease. The research team, led by entomologist Fredros Okumu, has won a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and if the design works, it will very likely be cheaply produced all over East Africa to help the locals prevent malaria.

But of course, the massively-produced traps will not use socks, just imagine how many dirty socks they have to collect. The scientists are developing synthetic chemicals that mimic the sock smell along with other human emissions that attract mosquitoes. Hopefully the brilliant idea from our laundry basket can really work, to save people from the threat of mosquitoes.

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