A machine which can suck mosquitoes into the mouth and swallow the insects has been made by a Vietnamese scientist.
In fact, Vietnamese have all heard about the machine, but they don’t have the opportunities to obtain them because of the overly high prices. Even scientists also dare not dream of the machine to serve the research works because they are unaffordable to them.
Vietnam is a tropical country. When dengue epidemics break out, it is necessary to collect mosquitoes from the epidemics stricken areas for analyzing. However, it has always very hard for scientists to do this work. BGtrap, CDC trap, or Aspirator machine, the most popular products useful for the works have been used for too many years already.
In Vietnam, Aspirator machines have been used for the national program on preventing dengue epidemics to collect mosquito samples. Meanwhile, Backpacks have been used in laboratories. All of the machines were imported from the US or Japan.
A backpack has been used regularly, but it is too heavy, weighing 13-14 kilos. Especially, it is very expensive, priced at some $40 million. The disadvantages have hindered the mosquito collection and explain why they cannot be popularly used throughout the country.
An aspirator is not only too expensive, but also is not really useful because of the small absorbing capacity.
Meanwhile, if the number and the quality of mosquitoes collected in the field are not reliable, this would lead to the waste of big money.
That was the reason which prompted Tran Chi Cuong, a researcher at the Insect Faculty of the national program on preventing dengue, to think of generating a machine which can replace the imports.
The mosquito absorber invented by Cuong has a cylindrical design with the total height of 62 cm and the total weight, including battery of 1.6 kilos only. The machine is painted with a nanotechnology paint which allows the high adherence and minimized scratching.
The operation principle of the machine is very simple: the power kicks off a motor which operates the impeller and creates the forces to suck mosquitoes. The mosquitoes will be sucked and dropped into a box.
The machine has been running stably without troubles in the conditions of normal weather.
In general, it takes every household 10 minutes to run the machine to collect mosquito samples. However, even when the machine runs 4-5 hours continuously, the machine and its equipment still can have stable operation in terms of speed and temperature.
In normal conditions, the machine invented by Cuong can suck the mosquitoes which are 18-20 cm far from the mosquito box, a safe distance which ensures the best possible quality of mosquitoes for analyses.
In order to kill mosquitoes and other insects, the users just need to adjust the absorbing speed.
Since August 2012, the machines have been provided to some projects relating to the research on dengue. The machines have been carried to Hue, Quang Tri, Long An, Dak Nong and Ha Tinh.
In late 2012, Cuong also provided the machine to a project carried out by the Nagasaki University in Japan.
Cuong wishes to find the institutions and individuals who agree to cooperate to manufacture the machines, which would bring big benefits to the community.
According to Cuong, a machine may be priced at VND5-7.5 million.
Source: Vietnamnet.vn on 8/24/2013
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