Ethiopian
scientists have discovered mosquitoes are repulsed by the smell of chicken,
raising hopes for the development of a novel way to prevent a disease that
kills hundreds of thousands every year.
A team
of insect experts led by Professor Habte Tekie at the University of Addis Ababa
began their investigation after noticing that mosquitoes bite humans and other
animals but stay away from chickens.
“We went
into the chemical basis involved in repelling malaria mosquitoes by odours
emanating from the chickens… The results show that compounds from chicken have
very good potential as repellent,” Tekie toldAFP.
One
theory for their behaviour is that mosquitoes see chickens as a predator, so
seek to avoid them, he said.
Tests
carried out in three villages in western Ethiopia showed that families that
slept beneath a chicken in a cage overnight were mosquito-free in the morning,
while homes without indoor poultry were not.
The
obvious challenges of sleeping with a bird suspended over the bed were
addressed in a follow-up experiment in which villagers were supplied with vials
of chicken extract. The results were similar.
The
findings, recently published in the medical publication Malaria Journal, will
be used in a new collaboration with Swedish scientists to develop an odourless
repellent.
“This
repellent will be safe for human use, (with) no residues contaminating soil or
water or poisoning people and it can easily be integrated into malaria control
operations,” Tekie said.
Malaria
threatens 60 per cent of the population of Ethiopia, a nation of almost 100
million people.
The
chicken stock with a difference will be “entirely natural,” according to the
scientist, and the chance of mosquitoes developing resistance is “minimal”.
There is
currently no vaccine against malaria, and the disease killed 438,000 people in
2015, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organisation.
Labels: Chicken, Chickens prevent malaria – Scientists, Malaria, News
