Soap That Stops Disease

As experts around the world look to stop the spread of mosquito-borne viruses, hope could come in the smallest of packages - a bar of soap.

Malaria is one such illness, but products from Faso Soap - a company based in the West African nation of Burkina Faso - aims to reduce the number of cases. The country is currently in its spring season, when mosquito breeding begins to ramp up.

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The company asserts that 270 million people in Africa live without any protection from mosquitoes that are becoming increasingly resistant to insecticides. Additionally, the organization says a child dies from malaria every two minutes.

The soap being developed by Faso Soap will look to repel mosquitoes for up to eight hours after use. This could also lend a new alternative to the spread of other mosquito-borne illnesses, such as Zika virus, Dengue, and Yellow Fever.

Mosquitos are the deadliest animals on the planet, killing 750,000 humans each year, according the the World Health Organization.

CNN reports that the company looks to decrease these numbers through soap consisting of shea butter, lemongrass, African marigold and other natural resources found in the African nation.

Faso Soap founder Gérard Niyondiko said soap is a product that can be found in African homes of all incomes, which makes it a more viable resource in fighting mosquitoes compared to expensive insecticides.

To make the products effective, natural ingredients are inserted into micro-capsules 100 to 150 micrometers in size, which are then embedded in the soap. This gives the repellent the ability to stick onto the skin's pores, even after the soap is rinsed off.

The spread of malaria is the primary concern on the minds of the organization, and it's a problem in dire need of a solution.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that in 2015, 214 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide, killing 480,000 people. That number is mostly made up of children in the African region.

The first tests have proven conclusive for Faso Soap, and they are beginning more comprehensive tests at the National Research Center against Malaria (CNRFP) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

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