How can tech play a part in solving one of African's oldest parasite?
Mosquito is the African oldest insect. The insect transmit protozoan parasite that affects human with the infectious disease called Malaria.
Through an infected female Anopheles mosquito bite, the plasmodium that causes malaria can be transmitted into the human blood stream.
Malaria can be prevented and also cured. However, it has remained a major cause of mortality in the world especially in Africa.
According to World Health Organization, reports showed that in 2017, P. falciparum accounted for 99.7% of estimated malaria cases in the WHO African Region, as well as in the majority of cases in the WHO regions of South-East Asia (62.8%), the Eastern Mediterranean (69%) and the Western Pacific (71.9%)
From this statistics, it is evident that mosquitoes pose a threat to the lives of people and the informed that measures must have been taken to inhibit this death toll.
Mosquito nets, insecticides, coils, chemical repellents among others are means of combating mosquitoes and consequently prevent malaria.
Biological control​ measures also include: removing stagnant waters, introducing natural predators, mosquito traps, hand killing, and recent suggestions like distribution of sterile male mosquitoes are all effective methods of reducing the mosquito population
It would interest you that even with the advent of technology, there have been innovations like Bug zappers that uses UV light to attract mosquitoes and even other beneficial insects. There is also Fly swatters/ Handheld zappers that seem effective in eliminating mosquitoes once found. However, none of these has ever been so effective.
With an infrared LED, a hi-res wide camera, custom optics and a processor, Bzigo has found a solution.
Bzigo innovation lies in several computer vision algorithms that can differentiate between a mosquito and other pixel-size signals (such as dust or sensor noise) by analyzing their movement patterns.
It remains the first ever device that actively locates mosquitoes indoors.
The combination of Bzigo and a handheld zapper is extremely effective, and they will likely be sold
together.
Similar to Bzigo is the Photonic Fence that attempt to detect and locate mosquitoes. However, unlike Bzigo, it is for outdoor usage and it is more complex and expensive too.
Bzigo is the only mosquito solution for home use that is affordable, effective, safe and easy to use. The device detects mosquitoes and sends a smartphone notification while the mosquito is marked by a laser pointer.
Interestingly, this innovation by Nadav Benedek who is the Founder & CEO of Bzigo and Saar Wilf founder & Chairman has a wide covering patent approved on the device.
Having also received seed funds in 2019, Bzigo focused on more researching and prototyping. Currently, the company is working on a prototype that would detect mosquitoes within minutes of entering a room, at a distance of up to eight meters (26 feet).
Additionally, the company will start the development of the next generation of the device, which will be able to autonomously eliminate the mosquito once detected.
Knowing the importance of such an innovation as this, additional investors throughout the world are arranging production to bring Bzigo to market by 2021.
To wrap it up, one actually can reserve a Bzigo device for a $9 deposit at bzigo.com, which also entitles you to a $30 discount off the estimated price of $169.
Once Bzigo reaches the market, other business directions can be developed like such as pest extermination in greenhouses,industrial farms, as well as in homes too.