LED lighting - protection against malaria
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
LED lamps (LED) are considered environmentally friendly technologies, in addition, these lamps help significantly save energy. When each person will use only LED lamps, the world will significantly reduce harmful emissions and energy costs.
Recently, LED lighting is becoming more affordable, for example, before, most people could not afford to buy such lamps because of their high cost, now their price is more affordable for the middle class and they are sold in almost any store.
But in addition to reducing energy costs, LED lamps can reduce the spread of deadly infections, such as malaria.
Because of malaria in Africa, more than 600,000 people die each year, mosquitoes are the carriers of the deadly virus, but in addition to malaria, insects are also spreaders of other equally dangerous infections.
Experts are constantly working to find ways to deal with dangerous infections and ways to reduce their spread, however, really effective means could not be found.
Specialists from Holland and California who tried to find a way to scare away dangerous insects and reduce the spread of malaria, after studying the behavior of insects and the influence of different shades of light on their behavior, came to the conclusion that LEDs attract less insects. It turns out that the LEDs emit less blue light, so they do not attract insects much.
This study shows that the LEDs can be tuned to the gaps of some areas of the spectrum. This can adversely affect the environmental situation, but it will provide the light that is suitable for premises.
According to the leading researcher Travis Longcore, such lighting, which does not attract insects, is especially important for those places where people live, where glass windows and mosquito nets are rarely found in homes.
During the experiments, scientists compared how insects react to a fluorescent lamp, adjustable and conventional with a blue LED-lamp.
As a result, it was found out that LED-lamps without blue glow attract 20% less insects, unlike other light bulbs taken for the experiment.
According to experts, if you distribute such light bulbs in places where the greatest number of infections are recorded with dangerous infections transmitted by mosquitoes, this will help people to have comfortable lighting in the dark and not to attract a large number of dangerous insects.
Specialists note that the benefits of LED light bulbs are unquestionable for every person. It has already been proven that the blue light that emits lighting devices and modern electronic devices (smartphones, tablets, computers, TV, etc.) have a negative impact on human health. Such light not only can lead to insomnia, but also provoke more severe diseases, such as obesity, cancer tumors, diabetes mellitus.
[