Mosquito-Net Physics Priced per Bite Prevented: The Aperture-Airflow Trade-Off, Insecticide Decay, and a Replacement Interval

SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. A model of the bed-net mesh trade-off: woven-screen pressure drop and airflow, logistic mosquito passage versus aperture, insecticide decay, hole accumulation and aperture stretching, and airflow-dependent nightly use, integrated over net life to give bites prevented per child sleeper and a price per bite prevented. Optimum aperture 1.2-1.5 mm (nominal 1.4 mm); replacement at 3.1 years when used-night efficacy reaches 0.70; approximately $0.47 per 1,000 bites prevented per child over that life (6,095 bites prevented against 9,052 with no net). Includes compute.py, the model code that produced every number.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-11-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.24109722
Primary Topic
Malaria Research and Control
Type
preprint
Controls
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preprint

Mosquito-Net Physics Priced per Bite Prevented: The Aperture-Airflow Trade-Off, Insecticide Decay, and a Replacement Interval

William Alexander Aldred
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Malaria Research and Control
preprint

Mosquito-Net Physics Priced per Bite Prevented: The Aperture-Airflow Trade-Off, Insecticide Decay, and a Replacement Interval

William Alexander Aldred
preprint en

Abstract

SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED. A model of the bed-net mesh trade-off: woven-screen pressure drop and airflow, logistic mosquito passage versus aperture, insecticide decay, hole accumulation and aperture stretching, and airflow-dependent nightly use, integrated over net life to give bites prevented per child sleeper and a price per bite prevented. Optimum aperture 1.2-1.5 mm (nominal 1.4 mm); replacement at 3.1 years when used-night efficacy reaches 0.70; approximately $0.47 per 1,000 bites prevented per child over that life (6,095 bites prevented against 9,052 with no net). Includes compute.py, the model code that produced every number.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Malaria Research and Control
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