BajaNomad

Denque?

sancho - 10-28-2022 at 10:55 AM

Read a couple very credible posts in the last few days regarding
Denque Fever as being more present than usual mid-peninsula on
south, any residents down there that can shed any light on this?
Gracias


Don Pisto - 10-28-2022 at 11:16 AM

you probably saw this from Graham on TB......

Dengue outbreak in LA Bay. One person already dead. Dozens infected in town.
Visit yesterday from "health" workers. Gave me pamphlet with advice.
Keeping mosquitoes at bay. No standing water and breeding places. Repellent. Cars have been spraying.
Probably had dengue 25-years ago in Loreto. Awful fever. Days in bed trying to keep temperature down.
No wish to repeat.

surabi - 10-28-2022 at 11:48 AM

One thing to be aware of is that the type of mosquitoes that transmit dengue and Zika do not generally travel more than 100 ft. from their breeding ground. And they infect you by having bitten someone with those viruses and then biting you, they aren't born with the disease.

So staying away from swampy areas where they breed, or places where there is standing water, and staying away from crowds, where a mosquito can bite someone infected and then bite you, can cut down on the risk of getting dengue.

Also: "Aedes aegypti bites primarily during the day. This species is most active for approximately two hours after sunrise and several hours before sunset, but it can bite at night in well lit areas."

So making sure to protect yourself at those times of day can help.

Dengue, like any disease, affects different people differently. When I had dengue years ago, I had no fever at all, I only had chills and incredible body ache. Many people lose their appetite, but I didn't. And after 6 days, I was fully recovered, while some people can feel sick for weeks.

Do not take aspirin or ibuprophen if you suspect you have dengue. They can turn any of the varieties of dengue into hemmoragic dengue, internal bleeding. Only Tylenol (acetaminophen, called paracetemol in Mexico) is okay for pain relief.

surabi - 10-28-2022 at 01:18 PM

I have an article I clipped from the Science section of the weekend newspaper years ago. It was about experiments that scientists did in an area in Africa where dengue and malaria were prevalent.

Only breeding females feed on blood, otherwise mosquito diet consists of fermenting fruit and flower juice. They set out containers of fermented fruit juice with a chemical added which kills mosquitoes. Within a week, it knocked out 90% of the mosquito population!

Now this chemical was expensive, not something the locals could afford, so the scientists tried it with simple boric acid, which is cheap and available almost everywhere, and found out it worked just as well.

I don't know why this method didn't get more widely publicized and adopted everywhere disease carrying mosquitoes are a problem. Probably because the toxic poison companies didn't like it :-)

But we could certainly do this ourselves if staying somewhere mosquitoes are an issue. Set out some bowls of juice you've left to ferment for awhile, with some boric acid added, and see if it helps.

[Edited on 10-28-2022 by surabi]

John Harper - 10-28-2022 at 02:17 PM

Quote: Originally posted by lencho  

  • Monitor the buckets daily, and when you see the larvae starting to wriggle around in the water, dump it out on a hot, dry surface (fry, you little buggers!)


    • Used to drop them in my aquarium as a kid. Fish love them.

    John

    [Edited on 10-28-2022 by John Harper]

    4x4abc - 10-28-2022 at 03:23 PM

    I have Dengue right now
    knocked me down yesterday
    it's pretty violent
    have it almost every year in La Paz

    a popular breeding space are kinda empty bottles and cans
    place them upside down in the sun for any liquid to dry fast
    yes - including beer

    any elbow (sink, shower, washing machine etc) that is not drained every day is a breeding pool for mosquitos
    spraying malathion into the opening fayly helps

    tiotomasbcs - 10-28-2022 at 04:02 PM

    Take care..BCS. On the Pacific coast it seems less pervase...keep mosquitos and bugs off areas of house! Thankfully Todos Santos hasn't spreading Mosquitos. Cooling nights!!

    elgatoloco - 10-28-2022 at 04:15 PM

    Get well. :saint:

    Stay safe.

    I hope I never get it. Mosquitoes are drawn to me because of my chemistry or so I'm told. :rolleyes:

    David K - 10-28-2022 at 04:34 PM

    So sorry, Harald... You have been through enough pain and suffering for a lifetime or two!

    surabi - 10-28-2022 at 04:38 PM

    True- some people are mosquito magnets and some aren't. They don't like me and I can be sitting around with a bunch of people outside saying we have to go inside because they're getting eaten alive, and I haven't noticed them at all. Sometimes I'll see one on me, but the bites never swell up or itch.

    One thing that keeps them away is a fan. They can't fly in the wind, so I sleep with a stand up fan near my bed, not oscillating, but set to stationary position, blowing across me. A ceiling fan doesn't do as good a job of keeping them away.

    RFClark - 10-31-2022 at 03:44 PM

    Howard,

    Have you received the vaccine for it?

    Marty Mateo - 10-31-2022 at 06:46 PM

    I had it about 30 years ago when living in Zambia, my girlfriend and I picked it up while travelling on the coast of Kenya . Worst thing I ever had , weeks of various symptoms. I had malaria twice and the second time ended up in hospital but still a cakewalk compared to dengue. It was also referred to as break bone fever as it felt like someone had taken a baseball bat and broken every bone in your body. Can’t imagine having it every year Harald , rough. I was told that each time you get it you get worse symptoms . What’s your experience Harald ?

    chippy - 11-1-2022 at 05:22 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by 4x4abc  
    I have Dengue right now
    knocked me down yesterday
    it's pretty violent
    have it almost every year in La Paz

    a popular breeding space are kinda empty bottles and cans
    place them upside down in the sun for any liquid to dry fast
    yes - including beer

    any elbow (sink, shower, washing machine etc) that is not drained every day is a breeding pool for mosquitos
    spraying malathion into the opening fayly helps


    You are talking about dengue in La Paz being an annual event right? You can only get dengue 4 times in your life and that is extremely unlikely.

    John Harper - 11-1-2022 at 05:53 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by surabi  

    One thing that keeps them away is a fan. They can't fly in the wind, so I sleep with a stand up fan near my bed, not oscillating, but set to stationary position, blowing across me. A ceiling fan doesn't do as good a job of keeping them away.


    Bingo, I do the same thing. Even set on low it's enough to keep them away.

    John

    surabi - 11-1-2022 at 08:19 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by chippy  


    You can only get dengue 4 times in your life...


    ??? What, viruses can now count to 4? Care to post the medical source for that statement? Sounds like some old wives tale.

    [Edited on 11-1-2022 by surabi]

    John Harper - 11-1-2022 at 08:22 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
    Quote: Originally posted by chippy  


    You can only get dengue 4 times in your life...


    ??? Care to post the medical source for that statement? Sounds like some old wives tale.


    Nope, I looked it up. There are four strains of dengue fever, and the antibodies produced by one strain are ineffective against the others. An interesting fact, not wive's tale.

    https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-...

    John


    [Edited on 11-1-2022 by John Harper]

    surabi - 11-1-2022 at 09:40 AM

    Yes, the antibodies from one strain are ineffective against the other strains, in fact can make symptoms of infection from other strains more severe. But that article only says antibodies from one strain are "thought to" provide lifelong immunity to that strain.

    Here is an article which calls that assumption into question:
    https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/214/7/979/2218686

    [Edited on 11-1-2022 by surabi]

    John Harper - 11-1-2022 at 10:03 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by surabi  
    Yes, the antibodies from one strain are ineffective against the other strains, in fact can make symptoms of infection grom other strains more severe. But that article only says antibodies from one strain are "thought to" provide lifelong immunity to that strain.

    Here is an article which calls that assumption into question:
    https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/214/7/979/2218686


    Gnukid is the expert in all things biological, perhaps he has the definitive answer.

    John

    surabi - 11-1-2022 at 10:26 AM

    Quote: Originally posted by John Harper  




    Gnukid is the expert in all things biological, perhaps he has the definitive answer.

    John


    :biggrin:
    Well, I'm certainly not an expert, there just doesn't seem to be irrefutable proof that the antibodies result in lifelong immunity, although that may be true inthe vast majority of cases.

    pauldavidmena - 11-1-2022 at 11:13 AM

    Looking back at my correspondence with George Bergin ("Osprey"), it appears he came down with a bad case of Dengue in November 2014. Symptoms included high fever, persistent cough, and loss of appetite. His particular case evolved into pneumonia and put him in the hospital for a couple of days. While he eventually recovered, it left him with a weakened immune system, and his health declined prior to his passing in August 2018.