Smelly socks lure for mosquitoes to tame malaria

July 13, 2011 12:48

Always bitten by mosquitoes? Wash your feet and your socks.

Here's why. Scientists say mosquitoes are drawn to smelly socks and feet and have used this to develop a new trap for malaria-spreading mosquitoes.

This, they believe will drastically reduce the transmission rate of the disease. The traps would be able to attract up to four times as many mosquitoes as to humans themselves, and then kill the bloodsucking insects with a lethal dose of insecticide.

Malaria is one of the biggest killers in the developing countries. Each year, there are almost 250 million new cases of malaria and almost 800,000 people die, according to the WHO.

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