New insecticide-free, mosquito-resistant clothing is made from materials researchers have confirmed to be bite-proof in experiments with live mosquitoes.
Researchers developed the materials using a computational model of their own design, which describes the biting behavior of Aedes aegypti, the mosquito that carries viruses that cause human diseases like Zika, Dengue fever, and yellow fever.
Ultimately, the researchers reported in the journal Insects that they were able to prevent 100 percent of bites when a volunteer wore their clothing—a base layer undergarment and a combat shirt initially designed for the military—in a cage with 200 live, disease-free mosquitoes.
The researchers think their computational model could be used more widely to develop clothing to reduce the transmission of diseases….