This Bizarre, Full-Body Mesh Suit Was Invented to Stop Zika-Infected Mosquitoes
The mosquito-deflecting suit in all its glory. (Image courtesy of Amazon)
For those planning a trip to Rio this month for the upcoming 2016 Olympics, you’ve probably already stocked up on an abundance of bug sprays in the hope of warding off any mosquitos that could be harboring Zika. However, sometimes heaps of bug spray just isn’t enough.
Enter the Netsman mosquito suit — a head-to-toe mesh bodysuit designed in Japan to reduce the chances of getting bit by a Zika-infected mosquito, the Daily Mail reports. Yes, it looks strange, but the netting actually will keep out those little bloodsuckers. The holes in the suit are extraordinarily small — around only 0.04 inches, whereas the average mosquito is between 0.08 to 0.2 inches.
Bibilab, the company that originally designed the machine-washable suit (which sells for $64.28 on Amazon), recommends not only wearing the suit when out in Zika-filled destinations but also spraying it with insect repellent before putting it on for added protection.
Sounds excessive, right? Well, for many of us, it most definitely is. However, Zika is a scary disease that’s currently rampant in parts of South America and the Caribbean — not to mention the first endemic cases recently found in Florida.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, not only can Zika make you very sick, it can also be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus, leading to severe birth defects. Therefore, it’s understandable that people would be scrambling for new preventative measures, especially since no successful vaccine is available at the moment.
(Image courtesy of Bibilab)
Michael Roizen, MD, chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic, agrees that Zika isn’t something we should ignore. “Zika is a fairly serious problem, so we have to do something big to either curtail the mosquito population or limit how it’s spread in the first place,” he tells Yahoo Beauty. However, Roizen jokes that this mesh body suit will most likely deter people, as well as the intended mosquitoes, from approaching you, due to its ridiculous appearance.
Although this invention could certainly work — and, as the saying goes, “It’s better to be safe than sorry” — the bodysuit still seems like a pretty bizarre solution to the Zika crisis. Rather than worrying about wearing this head-to-toe mesh suit (which looks pretty uncomfortable), Roizen simply recommends rethinking your travel plans. Europe, here we come!
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