Brazil has a new means of fighting the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The country now has "sweating" billboards designed to attract and kill mosquitoes that potentially carry the birth defect-causing virus.
"The Mosquito Killer Billboard," created and launched by advertising agencies Posterscope and NBS, releases carbon dioxide and a lactic acid solution to imitate human breathing and sweat.
The agencies said that the billboard was designed to lure the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is known to transmit the Zika virus, from up to 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) away. Mosquitoes attracted to the billboard are trapped as they stick upon landing and eventually die because of dehydration.
Two Mosquito Killer Billboards have so far been installed in Rio de Janeiro, and Posterscope and NBS have called for more installations. The technical specifications of the billboards have also been published by the marketing firms online and may be downloaded for free, allowing those from other parts of the world to also make and use the boards to trap and get rid of disease-carrying mosquitoes.
Otto Frossard from Posterscope said it is impressive that the idea can help save many lives. However, some experts voiced their concerns over the repercussions of placing the mosquito-trapping billboards in public places, where they can attract the attention of both humans and insects.
"I do have a few concerns," said University of Southampton pest control expert Chris Jackson. "Maybe if it was not in a high-density place, where people are sitting perhaps with exposed legs ... otherwise, you're pulling in hungry mosquitoes and providing them with exposed human flesh."
The World Health Organization (WHO) has already labeled Zika as a global public health emergency and called for more actions to be taken globally. The link between fetal abnormalities and birth defects such as microcephaly, a disease that results in small heads among affected babies, and Zika virus raises concern over the spread of the mosquito-borne disease.
To date, however, no Zika treatment or vaccine is yet available and the best way to prevent getting the disease is to avoid mosquito bites.
The WHO said that mosquito traps could be one way of controlling the spread of Zika, albeit further research is needed to determine the efficacy of this method.
Watch how the Mosquito Killer Billboard works in the video below:
