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As soon as the rainy season arrives, the risk of mosquito-borne diseases increases manifold. Of these, the highest number of cases are of dengue, malaria, chikungunya and Zika virus. The symptoms of each mosquito bite can be different. In such a situation, it takes time to identify which mosquito has bitten. But now scientists have raised hopes of finding a solution to this problem soon.
Dr. Soumya Acharya and her team of bioengineers at Johns Hopkins University in the US, in collaboration with Makerere University in Uganda and the Gates Foundation, have developed an app.
The name of this app is Vectorcam. With the help of this app, it will be easy to find out which species a mosquito belongs to and which disease virus it is spreading. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has also praised this app. Currently, this app is being tested in Uganda, a country located in East-Central Africa.
so today news of need I will talk about what is VectorCam? Also, we will know that-
- What kind of changes are expected from the successful testing of VectorCam?
- What changes will the arrival of this app bring in the lives of common people like you and me?
Question: How many people die every year due to mosquitoes all over the world?
answer- Although mosquito is a very small creature, it is considered the most dangerous for humans because mosquito bites spread more than 10 diseases. In this, malaria and dengue cases are seen the most.
See the graphic below to see how many people die every year due to malaria and dengue.
Question- What role will the Vectorcam app play in detecting and preventing mosquito-borne diseases? How will it work?
answer- The VectorCam app scans photos of mosquitoes. It can also identify the species of mosquitoes. Such as which mosquito spreads infectious diseases like dengue, Zika, malaria.
This can speed up the process of prevention and treatment. Apart from this, it has other benefits too. You can understand them in the graphic given below.
Question- How will common people benefit from VectorCam app?
answer- Currently, this app has been made only for the use of doctors and healthcare professionals. With the help of this app, they will be able to immediately detect the disease-spreading mosquito and take necessary action immediately. But it will also be very useful for common people like you and me.
It can be understood in this way that if the people sitting in the primary health center of a small village or town can detect the disease spreading mosquito with the help of the app, then it will become easy to treat it immediately and take action related to it.
It is also possible that this app will also be available to the general public through the Play Store. In such a situation, we will be able to scan the mosquitoes breeding in or around our homes and find out whether it is a normal mosquito or a dangerous mosquito spreading disease.
Question- Is this the first app of its kind?
answer- No. Earlier, a team of scientists from the Department of Engineering Science of Oxford University had developed an app called HumBug, which can detect mosquitoes from about 10 cm away. This app can detect the species of mosquitoes by listening to the sound of their wings. However, it is still in its initial stage. This app can only identify mosquitoes that spread malaria. The developers are working on increasing its database, so that mosquitoes of other species can also be identified.
Question- What is the difference between a normal mosquito and a virus spreading mosquito. Can a common man identify it himself?
answer- Dengue and malaria are two serious mosquito-borne diseases in India. Every year thousands of people lose their lives due to these diseases. The mosquitoes that spread these two diseases are different.
See the graphic below to see the difference between these two mosquitoes and how to identify them.
Question: How can we protect ourselves from mosquito infestation?
answer- Some measures are given below, by adopting which you can protect yourself.
- Wear full sleeve shirt and full pants.
- Keep your surroundings clean.
- Do not allow water to accumulate in pots or containers.
- Install grills on the windows and doors of the house.
- Keep doors and windows closed if not necessary.
- Always keep the dustbin covered.
