Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
02/05/2016
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
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'Mosquitérica' transmitter holding mosquitoes zika; for infectious disease mechanism can attract more mosquitoes to home users and neighbors.
The epidemic of zika virus in Brazil is bringing to discuss ways to combat different mosquito traditional elimination of breeding in standing water. One gained great popularity on the Internet: the trap known as "mosquitérica" - made with a plastic bottle and tissue microtule. But as these devices are able to help stop an epidemic that worries the world?
Aedes aegypti
Researchers are divided. Proponents of the invention say it could help yes - as long as it is used on a large scale or as an educational tool.
However, the institutes Oswaldo Cruz in Rio de Janeiro, and Emilio Ribas, Sao Paulo, emphasize the traditional strategies and do not recommend individual use of the trap during the current epidemic.
Its use, say, could in theory attract more mosquitoes for the home user - increasing the risk for him and his neighbors.
In general, the trap is made with a plastic bottle, a cloth screen type microtule and a bait that can be rice, birdseed or feed cats. The idea of the invention is to capture the Aedes aegypti while he is still a larva and have not turned into mosquito.
operation
In its home version, the bottle is cut, sanded and glued to turn into a water storage container with two chambers - one in contact with the environment and other isolated. They are separated by microtule screen.
The idea is that the female Aedes aegypti mosquito is attracted to water natural evaporation of a location believed to be safe to lay their eggs.
The mosquitérica provides a water environment standing and rich in microorganisms whose growth is stimulated by the presence of the cat food and birdseed.
Traps should be used collectively to eradicate mosquitoes, according to researcher (Photo: UFRJ / Handout) traps should be used collectively
to eradicate mosquitoes, according to researcher
(Photo: UFRJ / Handout)
"The mosquito does not just need to stop and clean water. The water must have microbes that are food for the larvae," said Professor Maulori Cabral, head of the virology department Institute of Microbiology Paulo de Goes, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He is one of the creators of the trap.
Initially, mosquito eggs are deposited in the chamber in contact with the environment and hatch into larvae. Attracted by food, these larvae cross the microtule screen and go to the second chamber, where the food is.
There they develop and grow to the point of not being able to return to the first chamber through the screen, thereby trapped. The owner of the trap then need to kill larvae and mosquitoes that accumulate in the second chamber and restart the process.
Use
According to Cabral, the trap began to be developed in Brazil in early 2000. The survey was part of an initiative of the academic community, who feared a possible West Nile virus outbreak (West Nile fever) - which is also transmitted by mosquito bites and could come to Brazil through migratory birds.
The epidemic has not occurred and the invention came to be patented, although it has not attracted the interest of companies for marketing. The creators then gave up the patent for the instrument to be used in the fight against dengue.
For the trap to work, it is necessary that the user delete all other standing water locations in your home, so that the Aedes aegypti find water to lay their eggs only in mosquitérica.
ZIKA
Virus became global concern
According to Cabral, there are two main ways to use the trap, an isolated and separate news.
Separately, the trap has educational character and serves to point up the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus, chikungunya and zika is present in the region. "If you capture the Aedes aegypti in mosquitérica, the person can alert authorities to look for mosquito outbreaks in the neighborhood," said Cabral.
But the trap, in theory, can also be used collectively - this time with the goal of eradicating the mosquito region.
But for this, a mobilization of the population would be required, through social networks or media channels, for example, to all homes prepare traps at the same time. Thus, an entire generation of mosquitoes could be eliminated.
According to the professor, this kind of mobilization never happened, although it is being studied in areas of Maranhão. "We have to do a campaign to eradicate mosquitoes and not by fighting it," he said.
Risk
However, Cabral positions cause controversy.
According to Professor Jean Gorinchteyn, infectious disease of the Emilio Ribas Institute, using homemade traps the mosquito Aedes aegypti is "problematic."
"The mosquito does not deposit their eggs in one location only, he scatters in many points," he said.
"He can lay eggs in the trap, but also in the neighbor's house (that instead of having traps may have potential breeding)," disse.Novos mosquitoes can then rise and move to the home of the owner of the trap.
Cabral says, however, that the female mosquito in search of a place to lay their eggs does not need blood and it does not sting.
Aedes aegypti (Photo: Luis Robayo / AFP) Aedes aegypti: Trap may not be the best alternative
Another risk mentioned by Gorinchteyn and by researchers at the Emilio Ribas Institute is that one lot a trap that attracts mosquitoes, without having eliminated other potential creators such as storage tanks open water, time exposed tires, dishes under potted plants and containers water for domestic animals.
According to these institutions, the number of insects killed with individual use of the trap is not representative and can attract infected mosquitoes into the house of the owner of the trap.
However, just as Cabral, Gorinchteyn says that if it were collectively used by an entire population, the trap could work. But he says there are other alternatives for collective fight against cheaper mosquito.
traditional prevention
The Emilio Ribas and Oswaldo Cruz Institutes say the best way to combat the mosquito Aedes aegypti is by eliminating standing water in places that can turn into breeding.
What can not be eliminated should be sealed to avoid contact of the mosquito with water.
The life cycle of the mosquito lasts between 7 and 10 days, so it is recommended to check and eliminate any breeding once a week.
The purpose is to disrupt the insect's life cycle.
The researcher Ricardo Lourenço, the mosquitoes Laboratory hematozoa transmitters of the Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (IOC / Fiocruz), says a common mistake people to check breeding is not knowing the existence of mosquito eggs at the edges of containers.
"The eggs of the Aedes aegypti have a highly adhesive substance therefore are well bonded to the containers. As a result, clean the walls of containers which can not be dismissed or sealed, weekly, is of utmost importance in combating vector," he said.
So far there is no vaccine or serum known zika against viruses.
See too
Source: G1
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.