Concept

Mosquito net

Summary
A mosquito net is a type of meshed curtain that is circumferentially draped over a bed or a sleeping area, to offer the sleeper barrier protection against bites and stings from mosquitos, flies, and other pest insects, and thus against the diseases they may carry. Examples of such preventable insect-borne diseases include malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, zika virus, Chagas disease and various forms of encephalitis, including the West Nile virus. To be effective the mesh of a mosquito net must be fine enough to exclude such insects without obscuring visibility or ventilation to unacceptable levels. It is possible to increase the effectiveness of a mosquito net greatly by pretreating it with an appropriate insecticide or insect repellent. Research has shown mosquito nets to be an extremely effective method of malaria prevention, averting approximately 663 million cases of malaria over the period 2000–2015. Mosquito netting is mainly used for the protection against the malaria transmitting vector, Anopheles gambiae. The first record of malaria-like symptoms occurred as early as 2700 BCE from China. The vector for this disease was not identified until 1880 when Sir Ronald Ross identified mosquitoes as a vector for malaria. Conopeum or Conopium (κωνώπιον or κωνόπιον or κωνωπεῖον) was a mosquito-curtain. It was made to keep away mosquitos and other flying insects. It took its name from κώνωψ, which means mosquito in Greek, and is the origin of the English word canopy. These curtains were especially used in Egypt because of the mosquitoes which infest the Nile. The Scholiast on Juvenal mention that at Rome they were called cubiculare. They are still used in Greece and other countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Mosquito netting has a long history. Though use of the term dates from the mid-18th century, Indian literature from the late medieval period has references to the usage of mosquito nets in ritual Hindu worship. Poetry composed by Annamayya, the earliest known Telugu musician and poet, references domatera, which means "mosquito net" in Telugu.
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.