Scientists Say Keep a Chicken in Your Home to Prevent Malaria and Zika Virus

Chickens may help prevent Zika and Malaria

Wonders they say shall never end... This probably explains best the new research finding of some Swedish and Ethiopian (I hope they were not high on coffee) scientists who have released research findings that suggest that having a live chicken in your home especially in the same room with you helps to prevent mosquitoes from biting you.

For better results, suspend the chicken cage over your bed!

According to National Post: Scientists from Sweden and Ethiopia found that malaria-carrying mosquitoes avoided homes where a live chicken had been suspended in a cage.

They believe the insects shunned the bug-eating birds because chicken blood is not sufficiently nutritious to justify risking being killed. Crucially, the scientists said, the mosquitoes did not have to see the fowl to be deterred as the smell alone created a repellent “odour bubble”.

Most would not enter a house, let alone a bedroom, that contained a chicken, the study, published in Malaria Journal, found.

Read more about this funny, intriguing and potentially life-saving story here.