Thailand braces for 'mega-outbreak' of Dengue fever

[sandrabbit]

I doubt the Government will do much in the way of prevention , but they may be able to cure you along with 100,000 s of others .

In our tambon in Rayong we have had loudspeaker trucks coming around for months warning about dengue fever & giving advice on prevention, they've been smoking the bushes etc as well. Today the local government put up a 3*2m poster warning about dengue on the other side of the road from our house. The mosquitoes had died down but they're back with a vengeance after recent rain storms.

[mrrizzla]

The population in Thailand should follow this advice.

Works for me.

Mosquitoes: they’re a pain in the ass and they know exactly when to turn a perfect al fresco dinner party into their own feast, starring your guests as the main course. Try and try as we do, we can’t seem to rid ourselves of the mosquito problem, even when there seem to be an endless list of remedies and solutions, from sprays to tiki torches to citronella candles. What if I told you that warding off those winged pests could be as easy as drinking a cocktail? Though it may sound preposterous, science suggests that those apertif pisco sours are good at more than just whetting your appetite.Carbon DioxideIn general, mosquitoes are drawn to humans by the carbon dioxide (CO2) we exhale with each breath. Research has shown that the more carbon dioxide you exhale, the greater the chances that you’ll attract a swarm of hungry mosquitoes, though the exact reason isn’t entirely known. The question is: Does alcohol affect CO2 exhalation? Theoretically, yes. As a depressant that lowers excitability in the body, alcohol may relax the body, as well as the diaphragm muscle, enough to actually reduce overall CO2 exhalation by causing you to breathe less heavily than if you were active or exerted. Decreased exhalation may not make you invisible, but it should help.

Sweat- To the cute girl across the table, the smell of sweat could be a turn-off. To a hungry mosquito, however, sweat is like an aphrodisiac. What attracts them is the smell of the lactic acid excreted in your sweat, but chances are good that if you’re enjoying an ice-cold cocktail you’re probably sweating less. Load up on the ice and stay cool.

Thiamine (Vitamin B1) Perhaps the most compelling piece of science that may suggest drinking alcohol can help to repel mosquitoes is the effect that alcohol has on thiamine levels in the body. Have you ever noticed that B-vitamins have a distinct smell? That, my friends, is the smell of thiamine, and although some happen to like the scent, mosquitoes do not. In the presence of alcohol, free-thiamine levels in the bloodstream are increased, due to the body’s inability to incorporate it into its coenyzmatic form, thiamine-pyrophosphate. For this reason, alcohol is considered a thiamine-antagonist. With all that extra free-thiamine in circulation, your common mosquito could be more likely to bite the poor soul sitting next to you who decided to fly sober for the evening.

See now I sweat A LOT when it is hot here. But I seldom get bitten by mozzies. My friends that visit from abroad get feasted on.

We could be in a mozzie infested place and I get left alone.

Have you noticed that people do not sit beside you ?

Not even the mozzsies love me

[grumpyoldman]

I wonder if there has ever been a study of blood types, pertaining to being bitten or not. Whether or not certain blood types are more attractive.

As far as the guy saying alcohol keeps em down, I think there is something to that. I can tell you from experience (as overall I don't get bitten whilst my pals get ravaged) the mozzies don't like the Sangsom I'm drinking while my well bitten buddies drink beer........

[sawadee1947]

a new outbreak is not surprising. So why does the govt. NOT introduce the new vaccine? I would pay for it.

Up to now I can't see any answer or any effort to supply this vaccine to Thai people....Or is there no money because PM spent too much for new subs? Of course very important for shallow water....

[sawadee1947]

i found this:

why-mosquitoes-seem-bite-some-people-more

http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/why-mosquitoes-seem-bite-some-people-more

[thailand49]

This is no surprise to me at all! Here in Pattaya majority of the hospital have been saying it for sometime that there are cases after cases. You look around especially on the Darkside and outside of Downtown Pattaya there is standing water everywhere particular in the open drains which are full of dirt and trash that does not allow all the water to drain from the rainy season. Just two months ago they came into our neighborhood spaying everyone's house since there was two cases reported from out neighborhood. The prevention is a joke here!

[TKDfella]

Another possible repellent is Garlic but I emphasize that this has been overstated by many. However, even cultivating garlic, as well as other plant species that grow in Thailand (Basil etc.), help to keep mosquito away. Garlic does this because of a Sulfur compound Alliin (has several chemical designations) and if you have regularly in your diet it can help. Of course, overeating garlic presents other problems so its use can be limited. I understand that expats in other parts of the world also buy prepared Sulfur powder from pharmacists and use this in various concoctions. Of course there is a price to pay, you might succeed in repelling mosquitoes but could also end being lonely, ha!

As I'm sure many posters know that drainage in villages can be poor to nil and is probably a major part of the problem but if it's any consolation, I read a year or two ago that mosquitoes breeding on London's Underground railway had increased a lot too. Can't get away from them eh?

[HomeinThailand]

You can make mosquito traps using a plastic bottle from soda or water, yeast, little bit of sugar and water. It gives of CO2 and will attract the mosquitoes to it so place it away from where you will be at. You can find directions on the internet. They are cheap and effective. The only way to protect yourself is use repellent with DEET. Also wearing long sleeves and pants to limit the amount of exposed skin helps, but one would sweat to death here.

[swissbie]

I think the cold weather of the past few days was helpful . This dengue mosquito can't survive with cold temperatures, but of course, in Bangkok there were only 2-3 days of cool weather and not as cold as in the North. It couldn't have killed all the mosquitoes, but perhaps it gave a hit.

Mosquitoes can survive quiet cold temperatures, their breeds even extremly deep ones, as in Siberia or Finnland where it's really cold in winter but in summer they have trillions of mosquitoes. We had moderate cold weather here in Phuttamonthon area (down to 13-14 degrees) and yes, a few days hardly any mosquitoes, but this was because of the steady wind, not because of the temperatures.

[kimamey]

The population in Thailand should follow this advice.

Works for me.

Mosquitoes: theyre a pain in the ass and they know exactly when to turn a perfect al fresco dinner party into their own feast, starring your guests as the main course. Try and try as we do, we cant seem to rid ourselves of the mosquito problem, even when there seem to be an endless list of remedies and solutions, from sprays to tiki torches to citronella candles. What if I told you that warding off those winged pests could be as easy as drinking a cocktail? Though it may sound preposterous, science suggests that those apertif pisco sours are good at more than just whetting your appetite.Carbon DioxideIn general, mosquitoes are drawn to humans by the carbon dioxide (CO2) we exhale with each breath. Research has shown that the more carbon dioxide you exhale, the greater the chances that youll attract a swarm of hungry mosquitoes, though the exact reason isnt entirely known. The question is: Does alcohol affect CO2 exhalation? Theoretically, yes. As a depressant that lowers excitability in the body, alcohol may relax the body, as well as the diaphragm muscle, enough to actually reduce overall CO2 exhalation by causing you to breathe less heavily than if you were active or exerted. Decreased exhalation may not make you invisible, but it should help.

Sweat- To the cute girl across the table, the smell of sweat could be a turn-off. To a hungry mosquito, however, sweat is like an aphrodisiac. What attracts them is the smell of the lactic acid excreted in your sweat, but chances are good that if youre enjoying an ice-cold cocktail youre probably sweating less. Load up on the ice and stay cool.

Thiamine (Vitamin B1) Perhaps the most compelling piece of science that may suggest drinking alcohol can help to repel mosquitoes is the effect that alcohol has on thiamine levels in the body. Have you ever noticed that B-vitamins have a distinct smell? That, my friends, is the smell of thiamine, and although some happen to like the scent, mosquitoes do not. In the presence of alcohol, free-thiamine levels in the bloodstream are increased, due to the bodys inability to incorporate it into its coenyzmatic form, thiamine-pyrophosphate. For this reason, alcohol is considered a thiamine-antagonist. With all that extra free-thiamine in circulation, your common mosquito could be more likely to bite the poor soul sitting next to you who decided to fly sober for the evening.

Populist nonsense cut and pasted from a frankly crappy website ( a food-blog advertising vehicle site! http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/08/22/does-drinking-alcohol-repel-mosquitoes/ ) with about as much scientific authority and credibility as the Professor in the Muppets.

There is no evidence for any of this, and quite a lot of evidence that the effect of vitamin B is just a myth, just one here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443777

Journal of Insect Science. 2015 Oct;15:140. The Efficacy of Some Commercially Available Insect Repellents for Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae).

"We present a comparative study on the efficacy of eight commercially available products, two fragrances, and a vitamin B patch [...] The products were tested using a human hand as attractant in a Y-tube olfactometer setup with Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse), both major human disease vectors. [...] Interestingly, the perfume we tested had a modest repellency effect early after application, and the vitamin B patch had no effect on either species."

Isn't it obvious that random websites for advertising purposes are not sources of scientifically credible advice?

I prefer to not listen to any government or non government medical agencies and tend to do the opposite of what they recommend, hence the reason that in 43 years I have never had to go to a hospital for any illness or ailment minus my vasectomy.

But to test this theory I intend perform 2 sets of tests.

1. Catch some mosquitos, get inebriated

and see what occurs.

2. Same mosquitos, sober and see what occurs.

Hopefully will have results in a few days.

Current medical advice is not to drink bleach. I was wondering if that stops mosquitoes and it seems you're the person to ask.

"I prefer to not listen to any government or non government medical agencies and tend to do the opposite of what they recommend, hence the reason that in 43 years I have never had to go to a hospital for any illness or ailment minus my vasectomy."

I wasn't sure how sound your theory was but that statement shows your lack of any logical thinking. Many people don't have medical problems until later in their lives. In my case until just over 40 when I was in a car accident. Your single experience means nothing and proves nothing.

[Roota]

There is currently a Dengue vaccine available, on trial in the Philippines, Brazil and Mexico.

Not yet approved for use here by the Thai FDA. Maybe they're waiting to 'discover' it by themselves.?

Not approved for use anywhere in Asia except the Philippines, and that was just a couple weeks ago. Sanofi Pasteur, the developer of the vaccine, has been conducting trials in Thailand for years. So we can expect approval here fairly quickly.

And for the record, when that time comes, if you happen to hear that Thai researchers played an important role in the studies helping to develop Dengvaxia, sorry, but it's absolutely true.

[Guest]

Maybe it's a plus for high-floor condo living..?

Thank You! I have been saying for years that above floor 25 in Bangkok is another world.

Fresh air, quite, and no mozzies.

I am at my condo .... floor 30 .. beautiful view of the river and BKK ...

Door wide open ... nice cool breezes .. fresh air .... nice and quite ...5 years ...still waiting for a mosquito.

[masuk]

Four kids had dengue in our village in Pattaya, officials informed, been weeks now and still awaiting fumigation. It'll get worse, yes.

Was a search carried out for 200metres around where the kids live?

Research has shown that the female mosquito travels less than this distance to its nearest blood donor.

Look for the stagnant water or rubbish or old tyres holding water.

If there is a fairly large surface area of water, kerosene (paraffin if you're from the UK) added to the top of the water creates a thin film which suffocates the larvae.

[maxtingtong]

The mosquito that spreads dengue is the same one that spreads zika virus. The Thai authorities need to understand the implications of this very quickly. Unfortunately it will not be important until it affects some Hiso, then they will panic and declare the country will be free in 3 months, then there will be a delayed reaction to reality.

Actually it killed already a popular actor.

Luckily mosquitoes don't likes me too much. Best repellent is the fan, can't stop and bite you. Fishes eating larvaes into water tanks/bathroom are working very well also. Fumigations kills them all too but not sure if it's harmless to humans

Edited January 28, 2016 by maxtingtong

[maxtingtong]

Four kids had dengue in our village in Pattaya, officials informed, been weeks now and still awaiting fumigation. It'll get worse, yes.

Was a search carried out for 200metres around where the kids live?

Research has shown that the female mosquito travels less than this distance to its nearest blood donor.

Look for the stagnant water or rubbish or old tyres holding water.

If there is a fairly large surface area of water, kerosene (paraffin if you're from the UK) added to the top of the water creates a thin film which suffocates the larvae.

Uh yes, I did it once, using common palm oil. Worked very well

[DavisH]

I think the cold weather of the past few days was helpful . This dengue mosquito can't survive with cold temperatures, but of course, in Bangkok there were only 2-3 days of cool weather and not as cold as in the North. It couldn't have killed all the mosquitoes, but perhaps it gave a hit.

There has been fewer adult mosquitoes over the last few days, but bear in mind that their eggs are quite resistant to temperature changes. Once it warms up, following rain, there will be more adults about. I'd say in 4-5 more days there will be more adults emerging.

[DavisH]

Four kids had dengue in our village in Pattaya, officials informed, been weeks now and still awaiting fumigation. It'll get worse, yes.

Was a search carried out for 200metres around where the kids live?

Research has shown that the female mosquito travels less than this distance to its nearest blood donor.

Look for the stagnant water or rubbish or old tyres holding water.

If there is a fairly large surface area of water, kerosene (paraffin if you're from the UK) added to the top of the water creates a thin film which suffocates the larvae.

Definitely Ae. aegypti do not travel very far. This species is very stealthy and one can easily be bitten by it. I once read of a report stating how a whole family got infected while inside their house in one day. Our village admin occasionally give us these small bags in of bti to destroy the larvae. These are put into water receptacles and stop the adults emerging.

[empireboy]

Maybe it's a plus for high-floor condo living..?

Thank You! I have been saying for years that above floor 25 in Bangkok is another world.

Fresh air, quite, and no mozzies.

I am at my condo .... floor 30 .. beautiful view of the river and BKK ...

Door wide open ... nice cool breezes .. fresh air .... nice and quite ...5 years ...still waiting for a mosquito.

Yes, I'm in Jomtien and only on level 12 but hardly get any and only eve the tiny ones... they probably git blown up by the breeze - but it's rarely!

[partington]

The population in Thailand should follow this advice.

Works for me.

Mosquitoes: theyre a pain in the ass and they know exactly when to turn a perfect al fresco dinner party into their own feast, starring your guests as the main course. Try and try as we do, we cant seem to rid ourselves of the mosquito problem, even when there seem to be an endless list of remedies and solutions, from sprays to tiki torches to citronella candles. What if I told you that warding off those winged pests could be as easy as drinking a cocktail? Though it may sound preposterous, science suggests that those apertif pisco sours are good at more than just whetting your appetite.Carbon DioxideIn general, mosquitoes are drawn to humans by the carbon dioxide (CO2) we exhale with each breath. Research has shown that the more carbon dioxide you exhale, the greater the chances that youll attract a swarm of hungry mosquitoes, though the exact reason isnt entirely known. The question is: Does alcohol affect CO2 exhalation? Theoretically, yes. As a depressant that lowers excitability in the body, alcohol may relax the body, as well as the diaphragm muscle, enough to actually reduce overall CO2 exhalation by causing you to breathe less heavily than if you were active or exerted. Decreased exhalation may not make you invisible, but it should help.

Sweat- To the cute girl across the table, the smell of sweat could be a turn-off. To a hungry mosquito, however, sweat is like an aphrodisiac. What attracts them is the smell of the lactic acid excreted in your sweat, but chances are good that if youre enjoying an ice-cold cocktail youre probably sweating less. Load up on the ice and stay cool.

Thiamine (Vitamin B1) Perhaps the most compelling piece of science that may suggest drinking alcohol can help to repel mosquitoes is the effect that alcohol has on thiamine levels in the body. Have you ever noticed that B-vitamins have a distinct smell? That, my friends, is the smell of thiamine, and although some happen to like the scent, mosquitoes do not. In the presence of alcohol, free-thiamine levels in the bloodstream are increased, due to the bodys inability to incorporate it into its coenyzmatic form, thiamine-pyrophosphate. For this reason, alcohol is considered a thiamine-antagonist. With all that extra free-thiamine in circulation, your common mosquito could be more likely to bite the poor soul sitting next to you who decided to fly sober for the evening.

Populist nonsense cut and pasted from a frankly crappy website ( a food-blog advertising vehicle site! http://www.foodrepublic.com/2011/08/22/does-drinking-alcohol-repel-mosquitoes/ ) with about as much scientific authority and credibility as the Professor in the Muppets.

There is no evidence for any of this, and quite a lot of evidence that the effect of vitamin B is just a myth, just one here http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26443777

Journal of Insect Science. 2015 Oct;15:140. The Efficacy of Some Commercially Available Insect Repellents for Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) and Aedes albopictus (Diptera: Culicidae).

"We present a comparative study on the efficacy of eight commercially available products, two fragrances, and a vitamin B patch [...] The products were tested using a human hand as attractant in a Y-tube olfactometer setup with Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) and Aedes albopictus (Skuse), both major human disease vectors. [...] Interestingly, the perfume we tested had a modest repellency effect early after application, and the vitamin B patch had no effect on either species."

Isn't it obvious that random websites for advertising purposes are not sources of scientifically credible advice?

I prefer to not listen to any government or non government medical agencies and tend to do the opposite of what they recommend, hence the reason that in 43 years I have never had to go to a hospital for any illness or ailment minus my vasectomy.

But to test this theory I intend perform 2 sets of tests.

1. Catch some mosquitos, get inebriated

and see what occurs.

2. Same mosquitos, sober and see what occurs.

Hopefully will have results in a few days.

Hopefully someone slightly more scientifically inclined than you will point out the possible drawbacks of intentionally seeking bites from a disease vector carrying a potentially fatal disease, during an outbreak of that disease, (in case they haven't occurred to you by now.)

Edited January 28, 2016 by partington

[Felt 35]

http://www.eliminatedengue.com/our-research/wolbachia

[jacko45k]

Well with the drought we are experiencing this surprises me.

I still need to keep water for the garden so what can I put in it to prevent mosquitoes in there?

[Wilsonandson]

Well with the drought we are experiencing this surprises me.

I still need to keep water for the garden so what can I put in it to prevent mosquitoes in there?

Here you go:-

http://topsshoponline.tops.co.th/p/InsecticideDevice/Azai-Larvicide-Granulars-100g

[DrTuner]

Four kids had dengue in our village in Pattaya, officials informed, been weeks now and still awaiting fumigation. It'll get worse, yes.

Was a search carried out for 200metres around where the kids live?

Yes, people were looking for stagnant water. None found in the village, it's either the drains or the neighbouring plots. So far our family has been lucky, I reckon partly due to myself being adamant the nets in windows and doors stay closed 24/7, despite having to constantly fix the rollers in them. I myself swim in KY-15 and chase any bloody mozzies with a zapper the instant I see them. Hate the suckers.

[Keesters]

Waiting for the headline

Thailand braces for mega fumigation against mosquitoes

Prevention better than cure.

[kingalfred]

A good hard frost. If Only!

[masuk]

Well with the drought we are experiencing this surprises me.

I still need to keep water for the garden so what can I put in it to prevent mosquitoes in there?

Here you go:-

http://topsshoponline.tops.co.th/p/InsecticideDevice/Azai-Larvicide-Granulars-100g

Looks like something the landlady gave me, as I inherited a heap of small fish ponds etc. The fish keep their place clean, and the "Sand" as she called it goes into the mini ponds which only have plants in them.

I made sure that the pot plants with large saucers under them dried out every two days - the eggs hatch in 3 days I'm told.

[Jonmarleesco]

'The first line of defense against the epidemic that has swept through Southeast Asia sees teams of local officials armed with machines spraying mosquito-killer, who patrol daily around Bangkok in an attempt to eliminate mosquito-breeding sites.' No doubt half a dozen one-man operations. Perhaps they should start by clearing the weeds from all the spots where water sits and stagnates. Then try penalising the Thais - yes, Thais, the worst offenders, by far - from flooding gutters with crappy water, and from dumping all kinds of trash into khlongs, particularly those with no flow.