A Google grant for it, but when will it come to the market?
The American Bazaar Staff
WASHINGTON, DC: The world of apps has grown to the extent that it’s not possible anymore to keep track with everything that releases every day, 365 days a year: as of June of this year, there were 1.2 million in the iPhone app store, with more than 60 billion apps downloaded by last year. The number of Android apps beat the iPhone apps though: there are more than 1.3 million apps at present.
But an app being developed in Britain may prove to be quite handy in the US: to combat the growing menace of disease-breeding mosquitoes, the dangers of which people coming from the Asian and Caribbean countries know only too well.
One of the 10 British charities who have already been selected to receive a £200,000 grant as part of Google’s fifth Impact Challenge to develop innovative ideas that promise to change the world through technology – and will be given an additional £500,000 if it becomes one of the top four finalists – is tackling malaria through the use of acoustic sensors.
The Google’s Challenge, supported by Nesta, is returning to the UK after contests in India, Brazil and the Bay Area of San Francisco, reported The Telegraph.
The app being developed by the Foundation & Friends of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, lays down the fact that mosquitoes are responsible for the spread of some of the most deadly and costly diseases, including malaria, that kills over 600,000 people every year. The project envisions to equip villagers in rural Indonesia with wearable acoustic sensors to detect the sound of mosquitoes. These sensors can tell the difference between species based on their wing beat. Combined with detailed vegetation maps, this will be able to track disease-bearing mosquitoes, and ultimately prevent and manage outbreaks of mosquito-borne disease.
The US at present is in danger of being inundated with diseases emanating from mosquitoes.
The disease Chikungunya, whose roots can be traced to India and the Caribbean nations, has been for the first time detected in Florida, spread through local mosquitoes. Traditionally, the disease was spotted in people who traveled to places like India and came back, with around two dozen cases reported every year. The virus, which can cause severe debilitating joint pain and arthritis-like symptoms, apart from high fevers, has been on the U.S. public health radar for some time, reported CNN.
Another worrying news is that health officials in Massachusetts say the threat from a deadly mosquito-borne illness, Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE), which also causes West Nile Virus, has increased with the discovery of mosquitoes testing positive for the virus. The mosquitoes collected in Bridgewater, about 25 miles south of Boston, are the first ones to have tested positive for the EEE virus in the state this year, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported, said TechCrunch.
The disease, transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes, can be fatal, and one elderly Massachusetts woman died from the disease last year, officials said.
The app being developed in Britain to detect types of mosquitoes may be critical for the US in warding off malaria and other fatal diseases, and one can only hope that it comes out soon.