Mosquito Fogging

So mosquitos carry a lot of diseases here in India -- malaria, dengue fever, chikungunya, japanese encephalitis just to name a few.

The mosquito population is obviously worse during the monsoons (June - September) -- so a lot of fogging / spraying is done to kill off the mosquitos. I'm not sure what they are spraying -- but I'm sure it's not very human-friendly -- so it's a little freaky to get off the elevator and encounter a lobby filled with the mosquito fogging/spray stuff --- it's happened to me twice so far -- I hold my breath and make a run for it and tell my self it's better than the alternative.

I take malaria pills -- although it's not very prevalent in South India -- and the pills are incredibly expensive ($10 a pill --- fortunately mine were covered by insurance). I will stop taking them once the rainy season is over (mid-October at the latest) unless I go someplace like Kolkata which has a high year-round incidence of malaria. And I've been vaccinated against japanese encephalitis. Unfortunately there's no pill or vaccine to protect us against dengue fever or chikungunya --- and you read about people dying from these diseases every week in the paper (mostly children and typically in the poorer sections of Bangalore).

Some facts / statistics about dengue fever and chikungunya:

• The United States considered both of these diseases when researching potential biological weapons (the USA has suspended this program)
• The incidence of dengue has grown dramatically around the world in recent decades. some 2.5 billion people are now at risk. WHO currently estimates there may be 50 million dengue infections worldwide every year.
• In 2007 alone, there were more than 890,000 reported cases of dengue in the Americas.
• Without proper treatment, DHF fatality rates can exceed 20%. Wider access to medical care from health providers with knowledge about DHF can reduce death rates to less than 1%.

Excuse me, I have to go reapply my bug spray ...