'War Room' To Counter Soaring Dengue Outbreak

[Id68]

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!...phoaw!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not underestimating the gravity of the disease itself, but if the total this year is “1,675 so far” compared to “Last year saw a total of 91,003 patients, with 65,581 cases in 2007”...well, this thread strikes me as slightly sensationalist?

Perhaps the inclusion of an overview of the disease itself would be more appropriate at the start of the thread with a complete listing of the statistics including: ratios/numbers of people suffering from the less voracious form of dengue who survived/or not as opposed to the same ratio/numbers caused by the second form (hemorrhaging)of dengue, the worst areas hit and at what time of the year and perhaps the inclusion of an overview of the disease itself…

(Cue smartarse with link to such a thread on the forum…S.A. you’ve missed the point!)

…With as an afterthought a comparison to the number of say, road accidents in the same period.

People scare easily, but is this particular subject worthy of our emotions when compared to other areas…like reckless driving and its relation to obtaining a driving permit within half an hour as is the case in Thailand or unprotected sex and the increase of Aids by god knows how much in the last few yeras?

[heazille]

Make a joke about it and be dismissive of it but don't catch it, it's easily lethal and in the event it is not, it will make you very very sick - much more scary than Malaria, trust me.

Had Dengue myself last year, it is a truly nasty disease, I lost 2 stone in weight in 3 weeks and it took me about 8 weeks to get over it!

It is certainley NOT something to laugh or joke about.

Ta Ta

Richard

Chiang Mai

[Lix]

My husband & I caught it in Septemeber. The only treatment is water & paracetemol.. We were sick, very sick, for weeks. Be careful, this is no joke.

It happens to everyone

Not everyone, less than 1% of the population

sorry i know this is serious, couldn't resist a Ricky Gervais style comment

[Navalator]

I thought that Miserere's comment was funny!

[growe237]

How long before flu-like symptoms start to show up after a mozzy carrying dengue bites you?

Re insecticides, I received a very serious, painful burn from a poison being sprayed on the hedges at the Jolly Frog GH when I was in Kanchanaburi a few years ago. I was about ten yards away and it drifted and landed on my skin. Be careful!

[voracious]

In response to the person who asked:

Yes DEET works for repelling the mosquitoes and reducing the likelihood of being bit (and thereby infected).

Long sleeves and legs for those who can wear them in the heat also help.

I've got a couple of these kind of shirts that have built in repellent and they seem to help, but probably DEET based repellent is just as or more effective.

[voracious]

I was also going to suggest mosquitofish, as China has recently begun a program to add them to stagnant bodies of water to prevent similar epidemics there.

However, board member Phaethon appears to have beat me to the punch back in November when he said:

Advise getting some 'mosquito fish' (several species come under this name according to region) - ask in a well-stocked aquarists. These are usually small species that specialize in feeding on surface larvae and help keep the mossie population down. These species can often be recognized by their upturned mouths. Unfortunately they also take out some species of larvae that also feed on mossies, so get local advice.

There are reports, however, that they will eat ALL insect fry and small animal fry in the water, so don't put them where you don't want them stressing the local frog and amphibian population.

(reference: LINK)

[on-on]

How long before flu-like symptoms start to show up after a mozzy carrying dengue bites you?

It's something like 5 days to 2 weeks, I believe. I had it last year and it was not fun. I recall the onset was a fever and a little swelling in the neck, but without any of the usual congestion or GI issues that you'd expect if you had some kind of cold or bowel problem. That being said, while it is a serious disease and should be treated by medical staff on a case by case basis of course, in many cases it's perfectly possible to simply suffer quietly at home while drinking a lot of water. People who aren't too young or too old and who are in generally good health most often won't need to stay in the hospital or anything unless they have a particularly bad case or unless it develops into hemorrhagic dengue. From what I can tell, in the hospital what they basically do is hydrate you via IV and monitor your condition for complications, low/falling platelet count, etc. Since there's nothing they can do to treat the average case other than give you paracetamol, sitting at home drinking water was preferable for me to the expense and curtailed freedom of the hospital, though of course each patient has their own particular reaction to disease.

The important things I recall are:

1) Get diagnosed early, because after a few days there traces of whatever they look for to identify it as Dengue disappear and they can only guess what it is by platelet count

2) Talk with a doctor early so you can make sure you don't take anything else that could affect the disease (aspirin, ibuprofen, other stuff).

I was stupidly taking ibuprofen at first and the doctor got me off of it because it further lowers your platelet count. After that I got a little better. Overall it took about two weeks of daily high fevers and various bone/joint pain before those symptoms stopped and another couple of weeks before I was back to full speed - it really does make you weak, I can't stress that enough. Even after you're over the fevers and such, the lingering weakness is a real problem. I'm used to running quite a bit on a weekly basis and I had to essentially stop for the better part of a month. Took another month after that to get my legs back in shape.

[dasy]

so how do they educate the public on mosquito control ?

television advertisements ?

radio advertisements ?

pamphlets ?

or a truck driving around spraying atomised diesel ?

I have only ever encountered one of the above.

In many of the cities in Florida, where the mosquito is the State Bird, "malathion" is dispensed as a fog every night. For many years, the mozzies are no longer pests in the cities. Don't know the effect on flora and fauna, but I wonder if it'd be worth a shot here.

Malathion itself is of low toxicity; however, absorption or ingestion into the human body readily results in its metabolism to malaoxon, which is substantially more toxic.[8] Chronic exposure to low levels of malathion have been hypothesized to impair memory, but this is disputed.

hmm I am not so sure we need more impaired memory spans here. But we can give it a shot......

[dumball]

Just back from Bangkok where we were attacked by many many mosquitoes. They particularly liked biting my 10 month old baby, who would struggle to fight off dengue fever.

The problem is that there is stagnant water and junk containing stagnant water everywhere - lots and lots of mosquito breeding sites provided by lazy humans. Plus all the natural stagnant water in swamps etc

Thai people refuse to clean this up. Even when I mention this to educated intelligent Thai friends, they seem to think "no" "there are mosquitoes and nothing can be done to fix it". They won't do anything about this. ??????? Ha ha - they also won't close doors after them, and so the mosquitoes go in their houses. The solutions are very easy but there seems to be some mental block stopping Thai people seeing it.

???????????????????

The answer to your query is simple , it is called 'Thainess' , whole thread on that going nowhere in particular , others suggest 'Mai-pen-rai ' , government have university 'Think tanks' , now there is a 'War-room' on Dengue mosquitoes , but as in most of these 'Theory forming ' equations , the main factor becomes most noticeable by its total absence , a lack of physical action , other than considerable finger pointing and posturing on which department is reponsible and why 'Mine is not ' . Have you not came to the conclusion I reached a long time ago , this is Thailand , they bleat and baaaaa about many things but have too little leadership to attain anything of dire consequence , all I can suggest is as has been reiterated many times before on this forum , LIVE WITH IT .

[Wombat6]

To control the breeding of these mosquitos, does this mean the authorities are going to pick up and get rid of all the plastic bags in Thailand?????? Plastic bags collect water and are therefore potential breeding grounds!!! Perhaps they could advertise the fact and get all the Thais and Burmese that are the major source of discarded bags to stop their habit and get them to pick up what they have already covered Thailand with.

[exexpat]

I personally know of a restaurant in Bangkok with twirling mosquito larvae in their bathroom water. I mentioned it to the staff but I am quite sure nothing was done? What do do in obvious cases like this? I wanted to dump some poison into the water, but I don't know where to get any, and don't speak enough thai to explain. Thais never use their brain for anything other than rip off schemes, which are quite imaginative to say the least.

I am going to stock up on rehydrating salts, just in case. If i get sick I wont have the energy to go to 7-11 which ironically is kind of far from my place.

I guess southern thailand now is in the midst of heavy rainfall. But this dengue problem happens every year, and they NEVER learn. According to a German study, the most affected area for dengue is Southeast Asia by far, even comparing to Africa, Amazon and rest of South America, etc.

Now or even a month ago is the time to kill the larvae. Malathion, for all the efforts in spraying, doesn't work on adult mosquitos.

Edited February 11, 2009 by exexpat

[exexpat]

Cats claw, a South American herb, reportedly works well against dengue inflammation according to Brazilian scientists.   Its closest Asian relatives are the uncaria sinensis, uncaria gambir (gambir) of Malaysia, and Uncaria rhynchophylla (which seems to have similar active compounds).    It does not prevent dengue.

Edited February 11, 2009 by exexpat

[iJuzWannaPreach]

Are they after all the blood sucking creatures ? or just the mozzies ?

[chiang mai]

BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS! BREAKING NEWS!...phoaw!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not underestimating the gravity of the disease itself, but if the total this year is “1,675 so far” compared to “Last year saw a total of 91,003 patients, with 65,581 cases in 2007”...well, this thread strikes me as slightly sensationalist?

Perhaps the inclusion of an overview of the disease itself would be more appropriate at the start of the thread with a complete listing of the statistics including: ratios/numbers of people suffering from the less voracious form of dengue who survived/or not as opposed to the same ratio/numbers caused by the second form (hemorrhaging)of dengue, the worst areas hit and at what time of the year and perhaps the inclusion of an overview of the disease itself…

(Cue smartarse with link to such a thread on the forum…S.A. you’ve missed the point!)

…With as an afterthought a comparison to the number of say, road accidents in the same period.

People scare easily, but is this particular subject worthy of our emotions when compared to other areas…like reckless driving and its relation to obtaining a driving permit within half an hour as is the case in Thailand or unprotected sex and the increase of Aids by god knows how much in the last few yeras?

Why is there always one in every thread these days!

[neverdie]

They were fogging around here earlier today, my only fear is I wonder what they were actually spraying & how long until it kills me. I have noticed theres been alot of cockroaches coming out of crevis's suffering slow agonising deaths....is this something to look forward to?

[exexpat]

Apparently South Thailand isn't the only one complacent and seeing massive increases:

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200901201002.htm:

Malaysia on guard for dengue fever as cases double

KUALA LUMPUR (AP): Malaysia's government urged people on Tuesday to protect themselves from dengue fever after infections and deaths caused by the mosquito-borne disease doubled in the first weeks of this year.

Eight people died of dengue through Jan. 17 this year, twice the number of fatalities in the same period of 2008, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

Dengue fever sickened 3,211 people in this Southeast Asian nation between Jan. 4-17, up from 1,514 cases in the same period of last year, the ministry said.

Authorities attributed the increase to a persistent rainy season and unsanitary conditions around homes that enable mosquitoes to thrive in stagnant water. More than half the cases occurred in Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur, and its neighboring state of Selangor.

``People are aware (of the threat) but they are not taking action,'' a ministry official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements. ``Maybe they don't take it seriously if their family isn't affected.''

Asia is full of NIMF's (Nevermind if not my family) as the west is full of NIMBY's. BTW, thats 247 people a day falling to dengue.

Edited February 11, 2009 by exexpat

[Teflon]

Having worked in Africa for a decade I have had Malaria over a dozen times, in 2005 I got Dengue whilst on break in Thailand(from a golf trip down Chantaburi way) and can tell you it makes Malaria feel like a hang over. Wouldn't wish it on Thaksin even!

[CHaos]

I made a thread about the risk of dengue recently and it was completely dismissed.

Luckily I haven't gone to Thailand as I was planning to.

[dumball]

They were fogging around here earlier today, my only fear is I wonder what they were actually spraying & how long until it kills me. I have noticed theres been alot of cockroaches coming out of crevis's suffering slow agonising deaths....is this something to look forward to?

Well neverdie , maybe you could do us all a small favour , ring the date of the spraying with a RED marker , any future sprayings do likewise , when you start to feel like a KOKAROACH , ring the day in BLACK , when you finaly keel over , be sure to post all the pertinant dates on TV so we can all ring our expected day of demise when we get sprayed . You know what has been said before " Do or die for your buddies , even if it takes your last breath on earth " Thanks in anticipation of your extreme actions in the health and survival of us , your loyal/demeaning/antagonistic/racist/PC/ fellow members of TV , sorry if I missed some-one out .

p.s. Go for a final ride on your 'Iron stead ' , feel the power of its thrust against your thighs , the adrenaline pumping higher and higher , grab a handfull and spin off to wonder-land , lost in the joys of biking

[importford]

Where is this so called "War Room"?

How can I contact them?

Around our house are some spots with water that are breeding places for mosquitos.

I went yesterday to the "Opatoo', local governm,net to ask to fog these places.

The guy told me that they will only fog when somebody gets sick.....

statement of the Thai Public Health Ministry:

"Local authorities have been advised to spray insecticide to eradicate the adult aedes aegypti mosquito, which bites humans in the daytime."

TIT

Anybody that knows how I can contact this "war room"??????

[Jimmeee]

I believe a War On Mosquitos should be announced to prevent Thailand becoming a Mosquito Hub, any mosquitos or people caught associating with mosquitos should be shot.

I refer to the harrassing hawkers as mosquitos. Such as the low life dog sht that wont leave u in peace in Pattaya. Can we put them on your list too. I truly truly hate and despise those cants. and i despise how thailand allows them.

[topdogdk]

We don´t have the problem around our house.

We have several jugs etc, with water in them.

We allways put a few guppies (or wharever) in them.

They really like eating the larvae, so no big problem.

(free food for the fish)

[chiang mai]

We don´t have the problem around our house.

We have several jugs etc, with water in them.

We allways put a few guppies (or wharever) in them.

They really like eating the larvae, so no big problem.

(free food for the fish)

Very true, it works just fine.

[Jimmeee]

They were fogging around here earlier today, my only fear is I wonder what they were actually spraying & how long until it kills me. I have noticed theres been alot of cockroaches coming out of crevis's suffering slow agonising deaths....is this something to look forward to?

Thats not cockroaches. Thats Burmese boat people. Thailand thinks theyre the same thing

[Jimmeee]

Having worked in Africa for a decade I have had Malaria over a dozen times, in 2005 I got Dengue whilst on break in Thailand(from a golf trip down Chantaburi way) and can tell you it makes Malaria feel like a hang over. Wouldn't wish it on Thaksin even!

Taksin didnt do to us foriegners what your people did

[Jimmeee]

They were fogging around here earlier today, my only fear is I wonder what they were actually spraying & how long until it kills me. I have noticed theres been alot of cockroaches coming out of crevis's suffering slow agonising deaths....is this something to look forward to?

Well neverdie , maybe you could do us all a small favour , ring the date of the spraying with a RED marker , any future sprayings do likewise , when you start to feel like a KOKAROACH , ring the day in BLACK , when you finaly keel over , be sure to post all the pertinant dates on TV so we can all ring our expected day of demise when we get sprayed . You know what has been said before " Do or die for your buddies , even if it takes your last breath on earth " Thanks in anticipation of your extreme actions in the health and survival of us , your loyal/demeaning/antagonistic/racist/PC/ fellow members of TV , sorry if I missed some-one out .

p.s. Go for a final ride on your 'Iron stead ' , feel the power of its thrust against your thighs , the adrenaline pumping higher and higher , grab a handfull and spin off to wonder-land , lost in the joys of biking

HAHAHAHAHA......

[Sturbuc]

GF and I caught it two years ago in Phuket. Not a fun time. We were both sick for 6 days each . Pain, coughing, fever, etc. Her brother caught it a month before and was hospitalized. Came close to dying. Very serious disease not to be taken lightly with jokes and wise remarks.

Don't laugh but one possible eradication method would be to "radiate" millions of male aedes aegypti mosquito and release them into the areas affected. Can't fertilize the females and the population dies off. Very successful in other countries. Takes time to create the population of sterile males but well worth the effort. Has to be repeated for several years. The size of Thailand makes it extremely difficult but if breeding sites were to be spread around the country and a "real" effort made, it would work. The "radiation" equipment poses no danger to humans although many uneducated people will insist it does. You get more radiation from the sun than the equipment. Thailand could put people to work at the same time. Hope some one from the "war room" reads this.

Well, are other methods to reduce the population of mosquitos:

- avoid all kinds of still water without fish inside to reduce the possibilities for the mosqitos to grow

- use bacteria (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis or MRC-367) to kill the growing Mosquitos.

(see http://www.wdr.de/tv/quarks/sendungsbeitra...ekaempfung.jsp)

[sngiam]

The THPH (thailand public health) need to take a serious action on the health issue for Thailand. I can said that Thailand have a large majority of mosquito than other asian country. If you don't belieave me, every single house in Thailand have mosquito net window. And the size of the mosquito double size bigger than other Asian country.

Thailand is a hot country and also surrounding by river, THPH need to come up something like neighbour country did it. It is not wrong to make a reserch how neighbour deal with the mosquito. As myself been to many country but of course not middle east, they have some mosquito but not same as in Thailand too much. I'm feel bad and shy for my friends who visit me , they like shopping, food, travel and people in thailand but was complain about the mosquito gave them a big souvenier to bring back home.

I hope THPH read all the alticle post in here. Advertise in the newpaper, radio and TV. To let all the citizen help each other to slove the problem. We must improve. We must kill the mosquito first before they kill us.

[david96]

We have an outbreak in Australia, Cairns and Townsville, we also have the malaria carrying mosquito but no malaria as yet, could have been brought in by a traveller from PNG or SE Asia. Source Qld Health Cairns.

About 400 persons have been affected. Informative only.