We have an implement called a “zapper” in our house. It is rather ugly, made of orange plastic and looks like a small tennis racket. But it does the trick.
It kills mosquitoes.
This year’s World Health Day (which was today, April 7 – or still is in our part of the world) focused on vector-borne diseases. Vectors are small creatures such as mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks. These tiny things are not just a nuisance. They affect more than a billion and kill at least a million people a year worldwide, putting more than half the world’s population at risk of diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, yellow fever, river blindness and other terrible infectious diseases.
OK, so you might think this is a “developing world” problem that does not affect so-called First World countries? Not quite true. The West Nile Virus was carried by an airplane passenger from Africa and has caused many deaths in North America. The aedes aegypti mosquito, which transmits the dengue fever virus, has spread almost worldwide. With increased air travel this is bound to happen. And I suspect that climate change might have something to do with it.
Let’s talk about dengue fever, which is familiar to Jamaicans. I have vivid personal memories of it, about fifteen years ago. There was an outbreak in Portland, eastern Jamaica, where we had been holidaying. It takes a week or two to catch up with you. I had pain behind the eyes, headache, and terrible sharp pains in my limbs. In Jamaica dengue is known as “break bone fever,” and with good reason. Then there is the high fever (mine was so high that I was hallucinating at times). This lasted for about two weeks, following which I was exhausted and depressed for another few weeks. It takes a while to come out of your system. Dengue fever is no joke.
There is no cure for dengue fever – not even any special medication you can take. You just have to wait for it to go away, and you must not take painkillers with aspirin in them as this can cause internal bleeding. There is a severe form of haemorrhagic dengue fever, which can kill you, especially if you are a child or an elderly person. Now, dengue fever has spread dramatically over the last few decades; according to the World Health Organization, 40 per cent of the world’s population is at risk. In 2013, 2.35 million cases of dengue were reported in the Americas, of which 37,687 cases were severe dengue.
A new mosquito-borne disease has appeared in the Caribbean recently. It is called chikungunya fever, and it seems to have started in St. Martin. Today, Health Minister Dr. Fenton Ferguson noted that it is now present in ten Caribbean nations. It is spread by the same mosquito as dengue fever, and the symptoms sound similar. Again, there is no cure and no vaccination against it.
What on earth can we do about all of this? While scientists try to find vaccines for this and other vector-borne diseases, we can take measures to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Apart from spraying chemicals around (and can we please keep this to an absolute minimum?) we know we should not have garbage lying around. We should avoid having even the smallest breeding spot where there is standing water in and around our yards. Sleep under mosquito nets. I always close the windows and doors for a while in early mornings and at dusk, when the mosquitoes are most active. You might consider window screens. And do invest in that zapper!
P.S. Here in Jamaica, HelpAge International Jamaica has participated in a campaign spanning forty countries called Age Demands Action on health. Specifically, HelpAge in Jamaica is calling for an end to discrimination against seniors in the healthcare system. This should be a year-round campaign, I think. Do support it.
And one more thing: Did you know that many Caribbean birds actually eat mosquitoes and other flying pests? The Antillean Night Hawk – that bird with the rattling cry that begins to dart around at dusk – and all the swifts and swallows. Migratory birds such as our winter visitor warblers, and even hummingbirds will eat mosquitoes. Yes, birds are very useful creatures.
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Reblogged this on Ashethan's Blog and commented:
Must read on World Health Day 2014….
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Thank you for this post Emma, it is much appreciated.
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You are most welcome, Kiwayne! I wish I had got it out earlier in the day, but wanted to write something so it was rather hastily put together. Thanks so much for the reblog and we will keep in touch!
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Please do keep in touch and I will share on HelpAge’s Facebook as well and mention the London office in it on Twitter. Great work.
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Yes we have West Nile here too and along with causing death in older people a number of horses have also died as a result over the past few years. With climate change these insect born diseases are spreading into new areas – maybe now there will be the research needed to help with malaria etc…seems it has to affect richer countries before anyone really cares.
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I believe climate change is a factor, isn’t it? I think there is a lot of emphasis on malaria as it affects more people worldwide than anywhere else and the mortality rate is higher I believe. We do occasionally have a few cases in Jamaica. What I think is happening though is that these diseases are no longer just affecting poor little “Third World countries” like us!
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The last couple of days in my trip to Jamaica, I was bitten by far too many sand flies. Then they came home with me in the laundry, and once again I was bitten. I still have some scabs from scratching so much. For some reason they didn’t go near my husband, if he was bitten he didn’t notice.
Mosquitos are a problem here especially since they carry West Nile virus. West Nile has only been here about ten years, but long enough that it has killed quite a few people. Our sewers and any standing water is sprayed each year, and we are warned to change bird baths, etc. weekly.
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Wow, yes – sandflies come out in the evening on the beach. I am not sure they actually transmit any disease in Jamaica though, have not heard of that. I change our bird bath daily, too – always patrolling the yard. Even so, once we have had a spell of rain, we get mosquitoes! 😦
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You may want to share my recent little encounter with vectors, http://jamaicapoliticaleconomy.wordpress.com/2014/04/03/everybody-haffi-eat-a-food/–I must say, ‘vectors’ just shout maths at me.
Anyway, the mosquito is so well-designed as a predator, see http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/a/aa050503a.htm. So, I’m trying to go back to some tried and tested ways from living in west Africa, including drinking lots of citronelle tea. Plant lemon grass and mint. Increase the bat population (s.t. them scaring everyone in the house).
You didn’t mention what Jamaicans/Caribbeans try to do, such as fogging, which never seems very effective, compared to things like making sure that garbage is collected, gullies cleared regularly, concrete work not being shoddy (uneven concrete being a great water collector and producer of little stagnant ponds).
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Oh, I must have missed that post Dennis, I will go back and look at it! Actually, I did mention the use of chemicals, clearing garbage etc. as ways in which we can prevent mosquitoes breeding. The practice of fogging seems to be less common these days – at least in our neighborhood. It used to be quite regular, but as you say it’s never very effective anyway. We see the bats and insect-eating birds in the evenings so I am sure they help. Also try to keep the lawn grass short (gardener didn’t come this week, which concerns me) as they breed in the long grass and even a leaf with rainwater in it. Does drinking tea really work? It makes your blood less tasty?
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Reread and saw the garbage references. The citronelle worked for us for several years in Guinea, and we had a flask of it on the go each day. As I mentioned, growing lemon grass or mint can help keep mozzies away. Your point about leaves is important, because people may only envison large vessels, like old tyres, but any still water works.
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We have lemon grass and mint in our yard but should grow more I think! Will have to look for the tea…
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Can cut grass and boil in water to make tea, like mint
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It’s interesting how Dengue – which used to be thought of as benign in comparison to Malaria, is sweeping across the world (via planes and shipping lanes, as you say). It’s an awful disease, as you recall (I had it too, in Paradise, and had a friend – fit and under 40 – die of haemorrhagic dengue the following year). The threat it poses to the tourist industry in Northern Queensland has at last attracted research funding here in Australia, where outbreaks have been recorded in the last few years. In Sri Lanka, when I first began visiting, there were occasional outbreaks in the East, but over in Colombo we used to laughingly dismiss visitors’ concerns – we don’t get it here, we’d say. Fast forward less than a decade it had became entrenched in the capital – resulting in several dozens of death every year. It might be circumstantial, but Dengue’s arrival in Colombo was preceded by chikungunya. Nowadays the Health Department, and Municipal authorities, have full-time teams clearing breeding places – anything from the usual suspects to innocuous places like an upturned coconut shell, to bromeliads, vases left for more than two days, water run-off trays in (old fashioned) refrigerators, saucers under pot plants, etc., etc.,(for which transgressions on one’s property one is fined, heavily), and smoke bombing high density areas. Before I left they’d begun a trial eradication programme using sterile mosquitos from Cuba. The Australian research is centring on genetic modification … It’s a huge – and growing – problem and good to see it getting global attention at last.
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Yes, the rapid global spread of dengue fever is quite alarming. I didn’t realize it until I started reading the WHO website, which has tons of information. I am so sorry to hear about your friend – that is terrible. We are always told here that children and the elderly are at risk from the haemorrhagic strain. Your account of how quickly it spread to Sri Lanka is very instructive. I am glad they are so strict in Australia, and wish this was the case over here. We still need to do much more to educate people about taking precautions, since our government simply does not have the resources to monitor and implement eradication programs. I’m glad you mentioned those sterile mosquitoes. I will have to find out about that (Cuba is, after all, our closest neighbor!) I’m glad, too, that they focused on this growing problem this year. Chikungunya hasn’t reached Jamaica yet…but it’s only a matter of time…
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