Researchers using malaria-infected mosquitoes to unlock a cure for the disease
Did you know at Stop Bugging Me many of our technicians hold aquatics licenses? That means if you have mosquitoes around your pond or near a body of water we can help. Stop Bugging Me Pest Control is the only call you need for all of your pest control needs. I think we can all agree that no one wants mosquitoes, except maybe the researches in the article below provided by KOMO news……
Seattle medical researchers are taking an unusual approach to eradicating one of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Scientists at Seattle Biomed are unleashing malaria-infected mosquitoes onto human volunteers in hopes of finding a vaccine for the disease.
After breeding their own mosquitoes in trays of stagnant water, researchers feed the insects blood infected with malaria. Those mosquitoes then bite volunteers who have been given a vaccine.
Mosquitoes transmit malaria through their salivary glands, and researches have discovered that they can remove those glands to create a vaccine.
Dr. Stefan Kappe is one on the scientists working on the project and said that while the new approach isn’t exactly high tech, it might just be the key to stopping a disease that kills nearly one million people each year.
“It’s a very powerful but also very simple way to see if your vaccine protects against malaria,” he said.
The study, which is being funded in part by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, used infected mosquitoes on six human volunteers last year.
The early results have been positive, and Kappe hopes to have the vaccine developed in just a year or two. While that’s good news for those in danger of being infected by malaria, Kappe warns that that it could take 10-15 years before a final product is licensed and available to the public.
Rats the Size of House Cats Invade the Florida Keys
Rats the Size of House Cats Invade the Florida Keys
You may remember the ferocious R.O.U.S. (Rodents of Unusual Size) in the fire swamps of The Princess Bride. This time time, they’re real — and invading the Florida Keys.
A species of invasive African rat larger than the average house cat has made a reappearance in Grassy Key, despite efforts to wipe them out for the past 10 years. According to KeysNet, the population of Gambian pouched rat breed of giant rodents proliferated at the turn of the century when a local exotic animal breeder allowed eight to escape.
As of 2009, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission thought the region was in the clear. But alas, the 3-foot-long beasts, weighing as much as 9 pounds, came back with a vengeance. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, at least a few dozen are running wild. ”In the early part of 2011, a resident emailed me and said he saw one of the rats. We were skeptical but went back and talked to people and
Not only they do they cause a stir when they show up in residents’ backyards, but the Gambian rat can also have negative impacts on local animal species and crops, and could disrupt fragile ecosystems if they reach mainland Florida, Reuters notes. In Zimbabwe, they’re often blamed for devouring nuts and damaging pea crops. They’re also linked to a 2003 outbreak of Monkeypox, a less serious version of human smallpox, in the Midwest.
They’ve even shown up in Brooklyn, N.Y., only to be harpooned with a pitchfork, and are also allegedly responsible for killing and eating two babies in South Africa last year, the Huffington Post reports.
Luckily, the Gambian rat can only produce one litter of up to six every nine months, and can’t reproduce until it’s five months old. To trap the remaining rodents, city officials plan to disperse 200 traps with cantaloupe, peanut butter, almond extract and anise as bait. Laced with a deadly zinc phosphide, wildlife officials predict the rats will die after consuming it while burrowed underground.
“They don’t belong here and they need to be controlled,” Gary Witmer, a biologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Wildlife Research Center in Fort Collins, Colorado, told Reuters. Adding, “They could cause a lot of damage.” Where’s the Dread Pirate Roberts when you need him?
Call Stop Bugging Me Pest Control at 206 749 BUGS (2847) for all of your rat control needs.
Should have called Stop Bugging Me Pest Control
When most people have any type of pest control problem, they simple call the exterminator. When Elin Nordegren, former wife of golfer Tiger Woods, has a pest control problem, she demolishes her house.
Nordegren decided to level her 17,000 square foot, beach front home in North Palm Beach, FL after it was discovered to be infested with termites and carpenter ants. Aside from that, the home is not up to Florida’s hurricane code. Her home builder advised her it would be easier to level the house and start from scratch.
Before the take-down, Habitat For Humanity was allowed to take as many cabinets, hardware and fixtures as possible before the wrecking crews were sent in.
Stop Bugging Me Pest Control wishes we could have been the ones to make the recommendation.
Elin Nordegren’s Florda home before being demolished for temites and carpenter ants. (Yahoo News)
Pest Control and The Super Bowl
You may not think that pest control and the Super Bowl would have much common ground. But this year, one commerical brought this odd couple together – Chevy’s commercial for their new Joy. At Stop Bugging Me Pest Control, this ad got out vote for the best of the game.
Most bugs aren’t this cute, that where Stop Bugging Me Pest Control comes in handy, we’re you Seattle pest control solution. Call us today at 206 749 BUGS (2847)!