Canadian made device counteracts Zika virus

The team at Maxtech Consumers Products Ltd. has been working for the past seven years to develop the product that aims to stop the growth and spread of mosquitoes.

The device containing a solution releases a scent that lures the female mosquitoes, creating an artificial breeding zone and alluring them to lay their eggs. As soon as the eggs are laid, they are immediately drained into the filters which kill them before their hatching.

Mark Smith, the project manager who deals with this project said, “After 21 days the reduction in the mosquito population is drastic.”

The team named it as “Green Strike” as “it is the only patented Non Toxic Plant Bases Solution” which means there is no harmful chemical associated with it.

Laurentian University Professor, Gerrardo Ulibarri, who has been involved in the development and testing of the product said, “It is a new method of reducing mosquito populations that is simple, effective and environmentally safe to use.” He further explained, “It contains no propane, no pesticides and no glue traps.”

“The Green strike mosquito preventer can target specifically those mosquitoes that carry lethal diseases like West Nile Virus, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Chikungunya Virus,” added Ulibarri.

In comparison to other available mosquito preventers Green strike has an edge above all. Smith explained, “We stop breeding at the source. We mimic a pond or a natural breeding ground of the mosquitoes and make sure they come to lay their eggs over there. Once the female mosquito lays her eggs she leaves a scent that lures other female mosquitoes to breed there. Our system flushes down the laid eggs and kills them before hatching. So preventing the breeding of mosquitoes from the beginning itself.”

The company aims to protect as many people as it can from getting sick or from contracting microcephaly, a birth defect that results in significantly smaller head. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention explains microcephaly has been found to occur in those children whose mothers had Zika virus during their pregnancy. 

Kacee Vasudeva, CEO of Maxtech said, “We strongly believe that one child born with microcephaly is too much.”

The company wanted to donate the device to Brazil ahead of the Summer Olympics, but were unable to do so because of the lengthy approval process.

The company presently decided to donate hundreds of boxes of the device, worth about $50,000, to the Zika affected state of Florida, in hopes to combat the disease further. Florida has reported over 40 cases of the Zika virus so far, and fears are there the numbers can increase further with the incoming tropical storm.

Vasudeva explained, “They can distribute to schools, they could distribute to playgrounds and they could distribute to people who can’t afford them for their backyards.”

The company presently sells the product in Canada and the Americas through Shopify, Amazon, Canadian Tire, Home Hardware. Smith however said, “The device will be made available to Asian countries also next year.”

Reporting: Debarati Mukherjee

Image of the device Green Strike