Mundus studies potential for VTOL UAV against Malaria

Oct 26 2010

Mundus Group Inc. (Pink Sheets:MNDP), studies potential for VTOL UAV to provide increased capabilities in fight against Malaria and disease spread through mosquitoes with precision aerial laser eradication treatments.

In an effort to prevent the spread of malaria, scientists have built a laser that shoots and kills mosquitoes. In the early 1980s, the anti-mosquito laser was originally introduced by astrophysicist Lowell Wood, but the idea never took off.  More recently, former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold revived the laser idea when Chairman Bill Gates asked him to explore new ways of combating malaria. Currently, astrophysicist Jordin Kare from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Wood, Myhrvold, and other experts have developed a handheld laser that can locate individual mosquitoes and kill them one by one. The developers hope that the technology might be used to create a laser barrier around a house or village that could kill or blind the insects. Alternatively, flying drones equipped with anti-mosquito lasers could track the insects with radar and then sweep the sky with the laser.

Efforts to eradicate malaria by eliminating mosquitoes have been successful in some areas. Malaria was once common in the United States and southern Europe, but vector control programs, in conjunction with the monitoring and treatment of infected humans eliminated it from those regions. In some areas, the draining of wetland breeding grounds and better sanitation were considered adequate. Malaria was eliminated from most parts of the United States in the early 20th century by such methods. The use of the pesticide DDT and other means in essence eliminated the Malaria from the remaining pockets of the South by 1951. In 2002, there were 1,059 cases of Malaria reported in the United States, including eight (8) deaths, but in only five (5) of those cases, was the disease contracted in the United States.

Before DDT, Malaria was successfully eradicated or controlled also in several tropical areas by removing or poisoning the breeding grounds of the mosquitoes or the aquatic habitats of the larva stages. These methods have seen little application in Africa for more than half a century. An even more futuristic method of vector control is the idea that lasers could be used to kill flying mosquitoes.

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. People with Malaria often experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness. Left untreated, they may develop severe complications and die. In 2008, an estimated 190 - 311 million cases of Malaria occurred worldwide and 708,000 - 1,003,000 people died, most of them young children in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The Communicable Disease Center, (also known as "CDC"). CDC's mission began at its inception on July 1, 1946, to combat malaria. Thus, much of the early work done by CDC was concentrated on the control and elimination of Malaria in the United States.   With the successful reduction of Malaria in the United States, the CDC switched its Malaria focus from elimination efforts to prevention, surveillance and technical support both domestically and internationally. This is still the focus of CDC's malaria work today.

Elimination of Malaria in the United States (1947-1951)

The National Malaria Eradication Program, a cooperative undertaking by state and local health agencies of 13 Southeastern states and the CDC, originally proposed by Louis Laval Williams, commenced operations on July 1, 1947. By the end of 1949, over 4,650,000 house spray applications had been made. In 1947, 15,000 malaria cases were reported. By 1950, only 2,000 cases were reported. By 1951, malaria was considered eliminated from the United States.