MIT Holding, Inc. (OTCBB: MITD), in collaboration with MEVLABS and Georgia Southern University, have successfully tested prototype designs of the patent pending PROVECTOR™. This small dispensable device is designed to stop the development of pathogens and parasites found in mosquitoes that carry deadly diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and West Nile virus.
The PROVECTOR will initially be made available in countries where such diseases are a major threat to the health of the population. MIT intends to distribute the PROVECTOR internationally to licensees through worldwide distribution partnerships.
The PROVECTOR uses visual, olfactory and chemical signals to attract mosquitoes, which ingest anti-malarial and anti-viral treatments that inhibit the development of the pathogens within the mosquito. The two current principal methods of controlling malaria are drug treatment of patients and the application of pesticides, which can both be very expensive, particularly in developing countries. Additionally, increases in drug resistance of the parasite, as well as widespread insecticide resistance in mosquitoes, cause these current methods to be less effective. Preliminary tests of prototypes of the PROVECTOR have indicated a reduction in the dengue viruses and malaria carried by mosquitoes. The Company is continuing to refine its prototypes prior to commercialization.
Dr. Thomas M. Kollars, Jr., Chief Scientific Advisor of MIT Holding and Chief Executive Officer of MEVLABS, commented, “The PROVECTOR provides a safe and economical solution to the health threat that mosquitoes carrying infectious disease pose to humans. Malaria currently infects over one hundred million people worldwide and kills at least a million people every year, mostly children. Dengue fever is also currently on the rise worldwide, causing illness in hundreds of thousands of people. Dengue cases have also been reported on the border of the United States. The PROVECTOR geographically eradicates the problem while preventing negative impact within the ecosystem.”
William C. Parker, Chief Executive Officer of MIT Holding, Inc., said, “This is a major breakthrough in stopping the spread of infectious disease such as malaria, dengue, and the West Nile virus. Our goal in developing this product is to address and help alleviate the four major problems surrounding mosquito-carrying infectious disease: occurrence of drug-resistant malaria, absence of a vaccine for dengue, population of insecticide resistant mosquitoes, and the current cost of malaria and dengue control. The PROVECTOR device can be used both within households and outdoors and is intended to be available at an affordable price, reducing the financial burden that current treatments often carry. Working in tandem with MEVLABS and Georgia Southern University, MIT Holding is honored to be at the forefront of developing the PROVECTOR, a possible solution to the growing, devastating, worldwide problems that these infectious diseases inflict on the global population.”