Monsoon Season, Miami. Week 3, Day 4

[SeaCat]

West Nile virus. It's all the rage.
Have a safe trip. And stay away from the West Nile!

Oh and don't forget Eastern Equine Encepholitis(sp). Yes the Buzzies are getting to be a pain in the neck, I smell like Deet when I get out of the shower now.
10.9 inches for the month of June as of this morning.

Cat

 

[shereads]

10.9 inches for the month of June as of this morning.

Cat

Braggart.

 

[shereads]

Do the West Nile mosquitos look any different from the malaria mosqitos? How can I tell them apart?

I think your liver will liquify and come out through your navel if it's West Nile...No, wait. That's Ebola.

Don't worry about which is which. That's the mosquitos' job.

 

[shereads]

I shall henceforth be known as Eioáe. The aspirated "i" is the tough part. The gutteral stop at the end is easy.

That's gotta be a eight-bear name.

Please explain about the bears, when you're finished aspirating.

 

[McKenna]

Please explain about the bears, when you're finished aspirating.

You don't remember?!

But you're the one who coined the term "eight-bear." (I think it was in reference to a day, as in an "eight-bear day.")

My trip through British Columbia last year ... and all the bears I saw....

*tap, tap* Hello? Is this thing on?

 

[cantdog]

There is a bit of a bad outbreak here with dengue fever mozzies. (see winter and mozzies! but we have sunshine 290 days a year )

These mongrels are twice the size of 'normal' mozzies, and have white specs on them.

Symptoms may include:

fever
headaches
muscle and joint pain
loss of appetite
vomiting and diarrhoea
skin rash
bleeding, usually from the nose or gums.

ie, you think you could have anything, including paranoia as you slap the little bastards!

Dengue is the breakbone fever. It lasts months and months and hurts like poison.

You do not want it. Not to be fucked with, dengue. Just a word or two from a former sufferer. Dengue began to spread east from the south of Haiti a couple of years back, and we had a doc, a nice fellow, came down with it. He told an appalling story. You really do not need the dengue. The pain is sourceless and intense, bouts go for hours to days and recur.

What are you doing having mosquitoes in the fuckin winter? What kinda country IS that?

 

[shereads]

You don't remember?!

But you're the one who coined the term "eight-bear." (I think it was in reference to a day, as in an "eight-bear day.")

My trip through British Columbia last year ... and all the bears I saw....

*tap, tap* Hello? Is this thing on?

Don't be silly, of course I remember. They had a few hit albums during the 70's.

 

[shereads]

You do not want it. Not to be fucked with, dengue. Just a word or two from a former sufferer. Dengue began to spread east from the south of Haiti a couple of years back, and we had a doc, a nice fellow, came down with it. He told an appalling story. You really do not need the dengue. The pain is sourceless and intense, bouts go for hours to days and recur.

Yikes. Do your internal organs turn to liquid like with Ebola? I read "The Hot Zone" to while away long days in a hospital waiting room after a family member had surgery. There were dozens of coughing/sneezing people sharing this waiting room, awaiting their turn to visit patients in the Intensive Care Unit. One man tossed his cookies in a trash can, right there in the waiting room, just as I was getting to the part of the book where the first Ebola patient is bleeding from the ears.

Travelers to third world countries/visitors to hospitals, do not read "The Hot Zone" or "The Demon In The Freezer" until you're safely at home, symptom-free and self-quarantined. Trust me on this.

Viruses are the scariest non-human life form; simultaneously evil and unaware, kind of like the president but faster. They will rule the earth when it's too polluted to sustain cockroach life.

 

[rgraham666]

Yikes. Do your internal organs turn to liquid like with Ebola? I read "The Hot Zone" to while away long days in a hospital waiting room after a family member had surgery. There were dozens of coughing/sneezing people sharing this waiting room, awaiting their turn to visit patients in the Intensive Care Unit. One man tossed his cookies in a trash can, right there in the waiting room, just as I was getting to the part of the book where the first Ebola patient is bleeding from the ears.

Travelers to third world countries/visitors to hospitals, do not read "The Hot Zone" or "The Demon In The Freezer" until you're safely at home, symptom-free and self-quarantined. Trust me on this.

Viruses are the scariest non-human life form; simultaneously evil and unaware, kind of like the president but faster. They will rule the earth when it's too polluted to sustain cockroach life.

And even worse, our governments are nickel and diming our health systems to death.

It's only a matter of time before we have the biological equivalent of 9/11.

We've already had two near misses here in Ontario.

The water went bad in a small town named Walkerton. Killed some people and made thousands sick.

And we had a SARS outbreak a few years ago, centered on our hospitals.

 

[wishfulthinking]

What are you doing having mosquitoes in the fuckin winter? What kinda country IS that?

A bloody good one No ebola, and I don't think SARS reached here, but it was scary when everyone was walking around with face masks on in Singapore during the outbreak. Felt like I was on some movie set. And no school slayings etc, although we do have our fair share of wacko killers.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Dengue is the breakbone fever. It lasts months and months and hurts like poison.

You do not want it. Not to be fucked with, dengue. Just a word or two from a former sufferer. Dengue began to spread east from the south of Haiti a couple of years back, and we had a doc, a nice fellow, came down with it. He told an appalling story. You really do not need the dengue. The pain is sourceless and intense, bouts go for hours to days and recur.

What are you doing having mosquitoes in the fuckin winter? What kinda country IS that?

CDC site says dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever (the one that makes you bleed from your gums, nose, or under your skin...) "has become the most important arboviral disease of humans."

"The principal vector mosquito, Ae. aegypti, is most frequently found in or near human habitations and prefers to feed on humans during the daytime. It has two peak periods of biting activity: in the morning for several hours after daybreak and in the late afternoon for several hours before dark. The mosquito may feed at any time during the day, however, especially indoors, in shady areas, or when it is overcast."

Recommendation: no vaccine is available for the 4 different strains. use DEET. don't take aspirin or ibuprofen because of their anticoagulent properties.



http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/images/map4-1.gif

http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/utils/images/map4-2.gif

 

[wishfulthinking]

Bloody hell. I didn't know it was a problem only in queensland. I would have throught for sure the northern territory as well. Thier breeding grounds are things with stagnant water, like pot plant bases etc. Lukily we don't get much rain. I think there have been 8 or 9 cases this year. Last year they were within a few blocks of an office area, but this year they are scattered throughout the burbs - scary.

 

[SeaCat]

And even worse, our governments are nickel and diming our health systems to death.

It's only a matter of time before we have the biological equivalent of 9/11.

We've already had two near misses here in Ontario.

The water went bad in a small town named Walkerton. Killed some people and made thousands sick.

And we had a SARS outbreak a few years ago, centered on our hospitals.

Hell we had an outbreak of Ebola here in the United States a while back. Thankfully this outbreak which occured in Reston Virginia was a previously unknown strain which did not transmit to humans. (It is known as the Reston Strain.)

Cat

 

[shereads]

Hell we had an outbreak of Ebola here in the United States a while back. Thankfully this outbreak which occured in Reston Virginia was a previously unknown strain which did not transmit to humans. (It is known as the Reston Strain.)

Cat

The Hot Zone is about the rise of Ebola in Africa, and the incident at that lab in Reston. Great book. Scary as all bejeeezus, because it's true.

The same author wrote "Demon in the Freezer" about the near-eradication of the smallpox virus, which is believed to have been down to only two samples - ours, and the Soviets'. After a game of who-goes-first failed to make either country agree to destroy their smallpox by a set deadline or even admit they had some, the negotiations fell apart. No one knows what happened to the Soviets' samples.

The scariest part of Demon in the Freezer is an account of how smallpox is handled at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. It's considered such a deadly job that people who volunteer for it are considered unsuitable.

 

[shereads]

While I typed that, I was bitten on the shoulder by a mosquito the size of a fruit bat. Must have come in when I opened the door for the dog.

The nastiest thing mosquitos do is wait in the foot-well of my car until I'm in traffic, before they start feeding on my ankles.

Has anybody here tried one of those $200 propane-fueled mosquito control machines? They supposedly draw mosquitos by imitating exhaled air. I'd get one if I knew they worked. Costly, but cheaper than being hospitalized for West Nile virus.

 

[Songcatcher]

A couple Quitos stung my chest.

 

[SeaCat]

While I typed that, I was bitten on the shoulder by a mosquito the size of a fruit bat. Must have come in when I opened the door for the dog.

The nastiest thing mosquitos do is wait in the foot-well of my car until I'm in traffic, before they start feeding on my ankles.

Has anybody here tried one of those $200 propane-fueled mosquito control machines? They supposedly draw mosquitos by imitating exhaled air. I'd get one if I knew they worked. Costly, but cheaper than being hospitalized for West Nile virus.

I have heard they wok well but I haven't tried one myself. Another I keep seeing is the Ultrasonic repeler. Do these work? Again I don't know.

Cat

 

[SeaCat]

A couple Quitos stung my chest.

May I kiss it and make it better?

Cat

 

[shereads]

Monsoon Season, Week 4

Strange yellow ball in sky. Bright. Stings eyes!

 

[Wildcard Ky]

Send some of that rain this way. I'm starting to think I've unknowingly moved back to the desert.