A composite endeavor of the Asymmetrical Biotargeting of Mosquitoes and protection of Biodiversity
The date was Tuesday, May 2nd 2023. It was a sunny day and a memorable one when a team comprising of NYSC Corp members from the Science Innovation CDS (Community Development Service), a Nurse from the College of Nursing and Midwifery and Mr. Nkimusowo Ojong visited Kourklys International School Calabar for a novel tech session. The school was having a Science week; a dedicated week catered to STEM especially in its demonstrative form. The visiting team had a composite delivery of the work, Asymmetrical Biotargeting of Mosquitoes and Protection of Biodiversity in a format that was instructive, descriptive, participative and illustrative.
Firstly, the resource person of repute Corper Ernest Benedict, a Biomedical Scientist presented a Powerpoint session on the particular elements for the utilization of Aldrovanda Vesiculosa and Pyrethrin from the Chrysanthemum flower to exterminate disease causing Mosquitoes. The presentation was concise and rounded. It highlighted the characteristic nature of the carnivorous Aquatic plant Aldrovanda that literally eats small plant forms and organisms. It is grown in watery rice fields in Japan and its repeated cultivation means it sustainably eats mosquito eggs when adult Mosquitoes lay their eggs in the Japanese rice fields. While Pyrethrin from the daisy flower Chrysanthemum is the best low toxicity phytochemical against Mosquitoes. The double impact of this plant based strategy to rid the human population of Anopheles Mosquitoes is safe, green and sustainable. Japan has achieved a negative incidence of Dengue fever thanks to this eco-centered and sensible use of nature to fight nature. Kourklys High students learnt a profound lesson in Corper Ernest’s presentation and asked a lot of questions.
Secondly, it is an innocent oversight to gloss over certain aspects of lessons taught to students. For example, the object of curiosity to first graders about Aldrovanda eating Mosquito eggs might be : Do mosquitoes have eggs and what do they look like?. It is simplistic to recreate the descriptive concept of eggs on a 2D surface like a Black or White board and a sheet of paper. Circumstantially, most areas in Africa might be lacking access to the internet were a simple YouTube search of Aldrovanda would show many videos of the plant eating mosquitoes. The team came with non-electronic, paper backed and Virtual Reality VR viewers ( sometimes called 3D or Stereo Viewer) that had a magnified 3D image of mosquito eggs in water taken from an electron microscope. The students can vividly see Mosquito eggs in water-in their habitat in 3D hence it becomes plausible that they can be eaten because it looks like it. Furthermore, most students in Africa are privileged to use the first generation light microscope either the mirrored one or LED yet the team gave them an observational experience of the next generation electron microscopy when they saw the magnified mosquito eggs.
Thirdly, the VR viewer or VR headset is a blessing to bring copious experience of different subjects to students by first person view. However, there might be concerns about students sharing VR headsets without recourse to the health risk of sharing ailments and infections.It was pertinent to have a Nurse in the team. Constitutionally, based on the Nigeria education act all schools must have a sickbay administered by a ranking Nurse. It is essential that before students can have VR, AR, MR or XR experience they should go through pre-incidental medical imaging screening of their eyes. The VR Headset is head worn and the eye sockets are fitted into the headset. It could be means to spread bacteria like conjunctivitis and even Clostridium botulinum or E.coli that are in the solution of tears in the eyes. Thankfully, the human eye has thousands of receptors that aid modern diagnostics; with a snapshot and processing power of a medical scanning AI, a nurse can appropriately screen students. This is all done with an Eye Diagnostic mobile application on a Smartphone. Furthermore, the Nurse has to input these sensitive data from the students from the Randomized test in a way that it masks their status to onlookers or non health personnel in the School. Nurse Martina Ikade cleverly used the color of School’s sport team to categorize them and Nsibidi( a 4th century central African hieroglyph) to input their health status and the ailments found- if any.
Afterwards, the students experienced Virtual Reality by going under the sea. It was an immersive experience on the Ocean floor. The ability to bask in nature was brilliant for the students. This brings to fore a poignant fact about the Asymmetrical Biotargeting of Mosquitoes using plants to rid Mosquitoes to save other plants. Saving other plants and our delicate Biodiversity is a huge gain. It’s noteworthy that the cost of treating Malaria is expensive because the imported Artemisinin Based Therapy ABT drugs are above $1.50. Many Africans are priced out of these drugs therefore they resort to herbal remedies to combat Malaria. These herbal remedies are mostly herbal brews that should always be drunk hot, leading to more felling of trees for firewood and the particular ingredients for these brews are diverse from leaves, tree barks, shells, seeds, crushed fruits and even roots. Most of the ingredients must be forage crops deep in the forest- the thought of extracting roots is clearly the dearth of such a plant or species. The unintended consequence of making herbal remedies is a danger to the Biodiversity of our Ecosystem especially in Nigeria, which is the most populous African Nation. Basically, the same spots for the unhinged exploration of forage crops to fight malaria will be fitting nature spots to grow the Aldrovanda or the Chrysanthemum flower. The obvious health benefit of the work is prominent and the economic benefit to save resources spent on treating malaria. However, seldom do many see the environmental, ecological and futuristic benefit of the Asymmetrical Bio Targeting of Mosquitoes.
Many thanks to the School Administration especially the Principal Mrs. Ifeyinwa Ebong for playing a good host. The students are a lot wiser and knowledgeable now.
