SEOUL VIOSYS removes mosquitoes that carry the Zika virus with its violeds technology used for sterilizing space stations

The application of cutting-edge UV LED technology, which is already used to establish clean environments in space stations, will not only lead to the sterilization of daily life and but will also capture mosquitoes that spread deadly viruses. Through such applications, UV LED technology is expected to expand its impact on various aspects of the customers’ daily life. Also, the commercialization of UV violeds technology that is exceptionally effective yet easy and safe for use by older adults, patients, pregnant women, and kids, who are prone to the dangers of chemical insecticides, is expected to provide a turning point for customers by freeing them the fear of mosquitoes.

To develop an effective way to catch mosquitoes with violeds, SEOUL VIOSYS consulted Professor Dongkyu Lee of Kosin University, a leading expert in the field of mosquito research and an expert member of the committee on Malaria eradication at the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and asked him to conduct an experiment. The experiment results showed that violeds captured up to 4-times more mosquitoes than existing insect traps, and field studies conducted by SEOUL VIOSYS researchers in South Korea, Vietnam, and Indonesia also showed the same results.

In another country, Seoul VIOSYS asked Professor Philip Koehler of the University of Florida, USA, a world leading expert in pest control, to conduct experiments on the effectiveness of violeds in capturing mosquitoes and received an official confirmation that violeds can capture a maximum of 13-times (on average, 7 times) more yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti), a carrier of the Zika virus, than mosquito traps that meet the standards set by the USA CDC. Also, according to the occurrence status of legal infectious diseases by the national indicator framework in 2016, in South Korea the number of Malaria patients increased 542 in 2012 to 638 in 2014, an increase of close to 20 (17.7). Experiments showed that violeds can capture a maximum of 9-times (on average, 5.6 times) more Anopheline mosquitoes that transmit such diseases than traps that meet the standards set by the USA CDC.

 [ The risk of mosquito ]

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mosquitoes are ranked as the #1 animal that harms humans, and every year more than 720 thousand people around the world die diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. Every year, mosquitoes cause more than 200 million cases of diseases.

The Zika virus is a deadly virus that has been identified as a cause of infant microcephaly and active cases have recently been reported all around the world. With the USA CDC officially declaring the Zika virus an obvious causal factor of infant microcephaly on April 13th, and Peru and Chile announcing the confirmed transmissions of the Zika virus through sexual contact, concern for the spreading of the virus is increasing. In Vietnam, many of branches of South Korean companies are located, 2 patients were confirmed to have the Zika virus, reflecting the increase in the numbers of Zika virus cases.

 
As the Aedes albopictus is also reported to be found in South Korea, various efforts, such as using mud fish, the natural enemy of mosquito larva as a biological pest control method, have been made to prevent the introduction and spread of various mosquito-borne viruses including the Zika virus. Experts continuously raised concerns that the expansion of mosquito breeding sites caused by global warming could accelerate the spread of Zika virus this summer. The violeds technology used in capturing mosquitoes only emits UV comparable to 2/100 of natural sun rays,1/10 of fluorescent light and thus although it has no impact on the human body, it does have a substantial effect on capturing various kinds of mosquitoes, including the yellow fever mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti) that carry Zika virus. This technology is expected to be utilized worldwide as the next generation’s mosquito control technology.

Vice President Yeojin Yoon at the UV Development center of SEOUL VIOSYS stated that “violeds is an invaluable product that was the result of 15 years of research done in collaboration with American and Japanese companies to develop the world’s first UV emitting chemical semiconductors, and was made with continuous research regarding its application. Violeds is already used to establish clean environments for USA NASA space stations, and is an innovative clean technology that can change the polluted environments of our daily life to safe and clean ones.” Yoon also stated that “Capturing mosquitoes with violeds is not at all harmful to humans and is an optimal mosquito controlling method that can be used safely by toddlers, pregnant women, older adults, and patients. I hope that our technology can be applied all around the world to save the lives of many people.”