Those buzzing, stinging irritating mosquitoes may soon find it difficult to sink that sharp needle-like appendage into the human skin if the micro-resolution mosquito-bite-blocking knits produced by robotic manufacturing by entomologists at the Auburn University in the US go for commercial production.
- The experimenting team has filed for an international patent.
THE RESEARCH: A paper—CNC Knitting Micro-Resolution Mosquito Bite Blocking Textiles—presented by one of the authors, John Beckmann, Assistant Professor of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the university, details the experiments and the findings.
- Based on the hypothesis that certain textile configurations could block mosquito bites, initial experiments indicated that knits were capable of blocking mosquito bites with variable efficacy.
- Several more experiments found that it is the interlock knit that improves blocking of more than one species of mosquito. However, unique combinations and optimisations are often required to generate the blocking effect.
- Further iterations of interlock can incorporate spandex/elastic or alternate fibres to increase comfort. Jersey-skip with spandex were the best blockers and were extremely close in comfort to Under Armour due to its mixture of materials (spandex, polyester, and cotton).
- Because mosquitos target preferential skin areas for biting, textiles might be engineered to include blocking knits in regions highly attractive to mosquitos and looser more comfortable knits in regions unattractive to mosquitos.
- Garments could also be patterned with colours that are less attractive to mosquitos, like white.
- The research showed that modern comfortable textiles can be engineered to block mosquito bites, arming individuals with the power to protect themselves from vector-borne disease in hot climates.
- The manufacturing process of these textile garments reduces human labour and will not negatively impact the environment.
The Team and Funding: The other authors include Bryan Holt, Kyle Oswalt, Alexa England, Richard Murphy, Isabella Owens, Micaela Finney, Natalie Wong, Sushil Adhikari and James McCann from Auburn’s Department of Biosystems Engineering, Department of Computer Science, and Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA.
- Stoll and Straehle + Hess provided knitting expertise while funding came in from the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) grant, USDA Hatch Grant, and Auburn University startup fund.
