In Zika outbreak: What you need to know (2016), James Gallagher reported that Zika virus, spread by Aedes mosquitoes ,was declared to be "a global public health emergency." Though death is not common among the infected people, the concerned issue is the microcephaly symptom of the infants which are born to infected mothers. Microcephaly is a symptom where a baby is born with smaller head than usual. It results in intellectual disabilities or death. There is no treatment available for Zika vius, so the only way to protect yourself is to prevent the infection. Seeing that the soonest availability of the vaccine will be in 2018, some advises for now are using insect repellent, wearing long sleeve clothes, and keeping the doors and windows close.
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Are you safe from mosquito-borne diseases?
My answer is:
No, I am certainly not.
As I'm living in Thailand, Aedes aegypti, more commonly known as yoong lai baan, is hardly avoidable because Thailand is located in the tropical climate zone. Moreover, my home is located next to a lake, which is stagnate water, a perfect place for yung lai to develop. My home also don't have nets to prevent them from entering. As a result, I am often bitten in the rainy season, but I am lucky enough not to get any mosquito-borne diseases so far.
This time last year, there was a dengue, one of the deadliest mosquito-borne diseases, outbreak. There was so many mosquitoes at my school that insect repellent became necessary in daily use. One of my friends, one of the students next door and one of the teachers were infected with dengue. Luckily, none of them had serious symptoms and recovered really soon. However, not all of the infected people were lucky. To many people's griefs, Tridsadee Sahawong, a famous actor, was dead after his long fight with this disease.
Now that Thailand is entering rainy season again, it's safer for me and you to protect ourselves from mosquitoes if we don't want to be infected.
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Reference
I remember that I've read somewhere ask a question that what animal kill most human being? And the answer was quite surprised to the reader. "Mosquitos" because most of the answers were lion, poison snakes, tiger, and many more dangerous animals. I think one of the reason made mosquitos become the most dangerous because not many people know the danger from them. Zika is one of the warning bell from them. Who know in the future there might be others bell from mosquitos. The best way to avoid is practicing a good habit to prevent from them.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the reason for that is probably because the plenty of mosquito in this planet. Mosquitoes are really tiny, produce lots of eggs in a time, and sustain such a dangerous disease; consequently, these qualities make mosquitoes the great killer. Just very small bite, can entirely kill a man.
DeleteYes, it's quite counter intuitive that the deadliest animal to us is, at the same time, so vulnerable that can be killed by just one clap. And, I do believe that Zika will not be the last outbreak of mosquito-borne disease. We need to brace for more of these diseases. The best way for us is to prevent them
DeleteCertainly, if you live in Thailand, you have to prepare for mosquito-borne diseases as mosquitoes love to live in warm or hot weather and water areas such as lake or water buckets in your house! If you're lucky, your skin may only get inflamed. But, I'm not a lucky man.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 11 years old, I was infected dengue. When I went to the hospital and the nurse said let her take my temperature, I was very surprised that my temperature was 39 degrees °C. That was the highest temperature since I was born. I remember that it was very afflicted for me as I felt exhausted all day in ICU. Fortunately, I got encouragement from my father as well as mother. They came to communicate with me in the morning and evening. Definitely, I had to do lots of my homework after going out from the hospital. I believe that that month was one of the worst memories in my life.
Poor you. But, don't ever say you are unlucky. You are a lucky man. Not all the people infected with dengue get a chance to say that they were unlucky because they die before they could. Stay positive :)
DeleteI don't think any people in Thailand is safe from mosquito-borne diseases. I had one foreign teacher in my old school and she passed away 2 months after i got to know her. Her friend told me that she was traveling to somewhere in southern part of Thailand and mosquito bit her. After she came back from the trip she didn't think it would become a serious disease. But sadly she died. Also there are several people in my old school that suffered from mosquito-borne diseases too.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry for your loss. Now I understand more why mosquito is the deadliest animal to us.
DeleteI agree with Nan. We might be more lucky that we don't have Zika here, but a dengue always be our serious problem. I saw the dengue protection campaigns for many years, and they seem that much effective. Recently, I heard that the scientists are doing an experiment about mosquito's gene modification to stop their reproduction. I hope this method work for us.
ReplyDeleteI've never heard about the gene modification stuffs before. I also hope this will work. This will save many people life not only in Thailand.
DeleteI think I am not safe from mosquito-borne diseases and others too. Since Thailand is located in the tropical climate zone like you said, there are plenty of mosquitoes everywhere in Thailand and mosquito is a carrier for many diseases such as dengue and malaria. But dengue is the most common one in Thailand and it is very dangerous that many people in Thailand died from it. I also heard from the news that if we get infected with dengue for the second time, it will be fatally dangerous. I think that everyone should realize how dangerous of these diseases can be and protect yourself from them.
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ReplyDeleteI have seen a campaign using motorbikes as vehicles to spread anti-mosquito agents in Thailand, especially near rivers, and I think this is a good idea because motorbikes are everywhere as same as mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I'll be save from mosquito-borne diseases as long as they don't have any method to prevent it from coming in Thailand.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, it's good luck for for safing from mosquito-borne diseases.