Pharmacy Daily | Dispensary Corner 13 Sep 13

SCIENTISTS at the US Department of Agriculture say they have discovered a new chemical which could render people “invisible” to mosquitos. They unveiled their work at the recent American Chemical Society meeting, saying that the naturally occurring substance found in human skin could form a viable alternative to existing insect repellents. If it works it would be a major breakthrough in the battle against malaria, with the compounds including 1-methylpiperazine found to completely block a mosquito’s sense of smell. “If you put your hand in a cage of mosquitoes where we have released some of these inhibitors, almost all just sit on the back wall and don’t even recognise that the hand is in there,” said one of the researchers, Ulrich Bernier. “If a mosquito can’t sense that dinner is ready, there will be no buzzing, no landing and no bite”. MICROBIOLOGISTS have found that washing your hands with soap in public restrooms may be somewhat of a health hazard. According to a report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, scientists led by Gojo Industries found that about a quarter of the soap in public facilities is so contaminated that it leaves your hands dirtier than before you washed them. Charles P. Gerba, who is Professor of Microbiology at the University of Arizona said that some of the soap they tested contained so much faecal matter that you’re “almost better off washing your hands in the toilet after you flush it”. The scientists tested over 500 soap samples collected from refillable dispensers in public restrooms in five major US cities. Gojo, the maker of Purell hand sanitiser, has launched a public awareness campaign to warn of the dangers of refilling dispensers - see gojo.com/NoMoreBulkSoap.

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