Why soap could be the ‘secret weapon’ in the battle against malaria

By Isobel Williams via SWNS

Soap is the latest weapon in the battle against malaria-carrying mosquitoes.

Researchers found that adding small amounts of liquid soap to some classes of pesticides can boost their potency more than ten-fold.

When soap was added to the mix, the mortality rate of the disease-carrying pests increased from 30 percent to 100 percent.

The discovery is promising news as malaria-carrying mosquitoes were becoming increasingly resistant to current insecticides.

Assistant Professor Colince Kamdem, from The University of Texas at El Paso, said: “Over the past two decades, mosquitoes have become strongly resistant to most insecticides.

“It’s a race now to develop alternative compounds with new modes of action.”

They discovered these results, published in the journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, after noticing that when a seed oil-based product was added to insecticide concoctions mosquito mortality increased from when the insecticide was used on its own.

Assistant Professor Kamdem added: “That compound belongs to the same class of substances as kitchen soap.

“We thought, ‘Why don’t we test products that have the same properties?’

“We would love to make a soap-insecticide formulation that can be used indoors in Africa and be healthy for users.

“There are unknowns as to whether such a formulation will stick to materials like mosquito nets, but the challenge is both promising and very exciting.”

They selected three low-cost, linseed-oil-based soaps that are prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa and added them to four different neonicotinoids.

The hunch paid off as in all cases, the insecticides drastically enhanced in potency.

Ph.D. student Ashu Fred said: “All three brands of soap increase mortality from 30 percent to 100 percent compared to when the insecticides were used on their own.”

In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide, resulting in 627,000 deaths, making research like this even more crucial.