Can LEDs Help Fight Against Zika?

Zika has been at the forefront of our news cycle for the past few months, with talks of the danger it presents to pregnant women or women of childbearing age. You may be wondering, “What exactly is Zika?” The Zika Virus Disease is spread through a mosquito bite. The most common symptoms include fever, rash, joint pain and conjunctivitis or red eyes. While Zika is not a fatal disease and many people may not realize they are infected at all, the virus poses a great threat to mothers and their unborn children. If a pregnant woman was to contract the Zika virus there is an increased chance her child may be born with microcephaly and other brain defects. Microcephaly is a birth defect that causes a child to be born with a smaller skull which can lead to a smaller, less developed brain.

Now you may be wondering, “What do LED lights have to do with Zika?” LEDs may be able to protect people from mosquitos and, therefore, Zika in a more efficient way when compared to mosquito nets and toxic bug sprays. According to Fortune Magazine, Lighting Science has begun research with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s entomology lab to test LED light insect traps.

The theory stands that all bugs and insects are attracted to different wavelengths of light. We see this when we turn on our porch light and bugs swarm to the bulb. These LED traps will be fitted with tunable LED lights to attract the species of mosquito, Aedes aegypti, that is associated with spreading the Zika virus. The research team hopes to use the LED light insect traps to steer mosquitos away from schools, office buildings, hospitals and homes.

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Posted in LED Hospital Lighting