Say goodbye to mosquito bites by a simple wearable blocker on the wrist

Finally, say goodbye to the red itchy bumps and many scary diseases caused by mosquito’s bites by just a high-tech wearable instead of dousing yourself in chemicals. Guarden has just launched an Indiegogo campaign for its latest device named Bandito, that is worn on wrist or attached to your backpack or clothing to ward off the mosquitos.

Guarden is a pest control company based at Chicago, Illinois that specializes in manufacturing eco-friendly products for pest and environmental protection. Bandito combines two different technologies to produce powerful defense against the bites of mosquitos. The device produces sonic waves at a frequency that repels the mosquitos and other bugs but is imperceptible to human and pet ears.

In addition, the device produces scents that are revolting to bugs but is refreshing to human nose. The scent strips consist of Citronella, Peppermint, and Lemongrass.

An individual Bandito device is built to last a single season even when used consistently. It comes with a battery that can go on for about 500 hours, while each strip lasts for 14 days when used daily for 5.5 hours. The device is at the prototype stage at present and c is expected to ship the orders by August 2018. 

Each Bandito device ships with one refill and one battery. The refills can be ordered separately. Currently, the solo pack is priced at $34 and expected to be delivered by August 2018. The device can also be ordered in various combination like friend’s pack (2 devices), family pack (4 devices), party pack (10 devices), and camping pack (25 devices).

The product is cost efficient, non-sticky, harmless towards the skin, non-toxic, and usable for years to come.

The bite of a mosquito can be more serious than just be annoying and itchy. They are known to cause many viral and parasitic diseases which can cause significant morbidity and sometimes be fatal.

CDC reports that mosquitos are responsible for about 1 million deaths a year just because of transmission of the malarial parasite. Other common viral diseases caused by the mosquitos are dengue, Zika, and chikungunya, Lymphatic filariasis (elephantiasis), yellow fever, West Nile fever, Japanese encephalitis, and St. Louis encephalitis.

Recent years have seen a rise in mosquito born illnesses and scientists are predicting an explosion of these diseases in near future because of global warming and climate change worldwide.

Joseph Conlon, American Mosquito Control Association (AMCA) Technical Advisor said in a recent press release, “We already have the mosquitoes. We are continually importing the diseases they carry. We must be prepared to prevent their spread throughout our public health landscape – and this requires safe, effective, sustained mosquito control and awareness in the community.”

The AMCA is celebrating National Mosquito Control Awareness Week (June 24—June 30, 2018) to create awareness among the public about how to keep the mosquitos away and the various diseases caused by mosquito bite.

Indiegogo campaign page

Product page

An official promo about Bandito from Guarden

Order 

Microcephaly in Brazil potentially linked to the Zika virus epidemic says European Center for Disease Control (ECDC).

photo by CDC PHIL, Aedes Mosquito

 

New European Center for Disease Control ( ECDC) risk assessment is currently evaluating a possible link between the observed increase of congenital microcephaly in Brazil and Zika virus (ZIKV) infection.

Until recent months Zika virus was not widely associated with microcephaly.

According to CDC, in the past four months, microcephaly cases in Brazil rocketed to 3,500 from 147, the average for the same time last year (2014).  About 46 babies have died due to birth defects.

The link was first detected when Brazilian health authorities found traces of the Zika virus in a deceased infant born with microcephaly or in amniotic fluid of mothers delivering microcephalic infants.

The first confirmed cases of ZIKV infection in Brazil were reported in May 2015.

Transmission of the virus in Brazil is likely to have started several months before because the disease is new and mild, and could have been unrecognised or misdiagnosed, as dengue and chikungunya epidemics were ongoing.

Microcephaly caused due to any infection is usually caused by transplacental infections occurring early in pregnancy and is only detected during the second half of pregnancy or after birth.

The observed six months delay between the recognition of the transmission of ZIKV in May 2015, and the detection of an increase in microcephaly in November 2015, is therefore compatible with a temporal association between the two events.

Currently there is only ecological evidence of an association between the two events, due to sudden epidemic of microcephalic babies born and clustered around a specific time period.

A possible causative association cannot be ruled out but further investigations and studies are needed to understand the association and the possible role of other factors, states the ECDC risk assessment.

In November the Brazilian Ministry of Health declared a public health emergency in relation to an unusual increase in the number of children born with microcephaly in 2015.

In addition to Brazil's findings, French Polynesian health authorities have also reported an unusual increase in autoimmune and central nervous system malformations in babies born during a Zika virus outbreak on the islands from 2014 to 2015. (73 cases, 42 of them being Guillain-Barré Syndrome, in a population of about 270 000). 

CDC map illustrates areas affected or possibly affected by the spread of Zika virus

Zika virus disease is a mosquito-borne viral disease caused by Zika virus (ZIKV), a flavivirus from the Flaviviridae family and is primarily transmitted through the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes.

The virus was first identified in 1947 in the Zika forest in Uganda in the rhesus Macaque population and have two main lineages, the African lineage and the Asian lineage.

Prenatal or perinatal complications of ZIKV infections have not been described in the literature. There is some evidence that perinatal transmission can occur, most probably transplacental or during the delivery of a viraemic mother. However, materno-foetal transmission has been demonstrated for several other Flaviviruses (dengue, West Nile fever).

Some other Flavivirus infections are known to have the potential to cause premature birth, congenital defects and microcephaly.

The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week.

Meanwhile, Brazilian officials are also reporting neurologic complications in other Zika virus patients, primarily Guillain-Barre syndrome, which has also been seen in French Polynesian patients who had suspected infections. "Although neither even establishes a causal relation with Zika virus, the hypothesis cannot be ruled out," says a health official in Brazil.

In conclusion, a causative association between microcephaly in newborns and ZIKV infection during pregnancy is plausible, but not enough evidence is available yet to confirm or refute it. Many studies are needed before a definite conclusion can be reached.

There is no vaccine to prevent infection or medicine to treat Zika virus.

Meanwhile, CDC issues a travel advisory to pregnant women  to consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing.

References:

http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/12/paho-issues-zika-virus-alert

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/question-answers.html

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/fs-posters/index.html

http://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/zika-virus

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/healthtopics/zika_virus_infection/Pages/index.aspx

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/resources/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/hc-providers/index.html

http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0315-zika-virus-travel.html

http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/zika-microcephaly-Brazil-rapid-risk-assessment-Nov-2015.pdf

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/17/health/hawaii-zika-baby-microcephaly/