Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.
Issue link: https://insideunmanned.epubxp.com/i/668560
30 unmanned systems inside April/May 2016 AIR SOLUTIONS I nsect-borne diseases pose some of the biggest health challenges worldwide. These kinds of illnesses, called vector-borne diseases, ac- count for 17 percent of all infectious disease and kill 1 million people every year, according to the World Health Organization. More than 2.5 bil- lion people in more than 100 countries are at risk of contracting dengue fever alone. Dengue and a host of other ailments—includ- ing malaria, sleeping sickness, chikungunya, West Nile, and zika—are transmitted by mosquitoes. "When it comes to human tragedy, no crea- ture comes close to the devastation caused by the mosquito," wrote Bill Gates and British politician George Osborne in January in a joint article in The London Times. But fighting mosquitoes and other insects is not easy. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are becoming resistant to insecticides. The Aedes by Rachel Kaufman From mapping infected communities to snatching mosquitoes out of the air, disease-preventing drones are on an upward trajectory. ARSENAL DRONES DISEASE-FIGHTING TOOLS aegypti mosquito, the carrier of dengue, yel- low fever, chikungunya and zika, can breed in as little as a teaspoon of water. They bite during the day, so mosquito bed nets do little good and they're highly adapted to living in- doors—right near their food sources. To help stem the spread of vector-borne dis- eases, researchers have turned to increasingly complex solutions, some being made more practical by new tools including Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), which can be used to target the insects that spread them. By going where humans can't—and doing it faster and more cheaply may finally give humanity fight- ing chance against these illnesses. Sterile Bugs One approach gaining traction in the scien- tific community is reducing the size of bug "When it comes to HUMAN TRAGEDY, no creature comes close to the devastation caused by the mosquito." Bill Gates and British politician George Osborne in January in a joint article in The London Times. JOINING OF Photos courtesy of Pavel, André Karwath and International Atomic Energy Agency