Scientist, designer create bodysuit to fend off malaria | Japan Herald

Scientist, designer create bodysuit to fend off malaria

Japan Herald (IANS) Wednesday 9th May, 2012

A scientist and a designer have created a fashionable hooded bodysuit for warding off mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites, a disease that kills 655,000 people annually on the African continent.

Though insecticide-treated nets are commonly used to drive away mosquitoes from African homes, the Cornell University prototype garment can be worn throughout the day to provide extra protection and does not dissipate easily like skin-based repellants.

By binding repellant and fabric at the nano level using metal organic framework molecules - which are clustered crystalline compounds - the mesh fabric can be loaded with up to three times more insecticide than normal fibrous nets, which usually wear off after about six months, according to a university statement.

"The bond on our fabric is very difficult to break," said Frederick Ochanda, postdoctoral associate at Cornell's Department of Fibre Science Apparel Design and a native of Kenya.

"The nets in use now are dipped in a solution and not bonded in this way, so their effectiveness doesn't last very long," said Ochanda.

The colourful garment, fashioned by Matilda Ceesay, Cornell apparel design undergraduate from Gambia, debuted on the runway at the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show April 28 on the Cornell campus.

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