Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Dengue Fever: Kill The Mosquitoes Or Kill The Virus


After reading so much about dengue fever and the Aedes mosquito, I have a burning question to be answer.
It is better to kill the mosquito or to innoculate or find everyone with denque fever and then isolate them.
Better here means cheaper, faster, effective, safe, environmental friendly.
Simple arithematics tell me mosquitos easily outnumbered people 1000 to 1 if not more. So if we can identify people who are carrying the dengue fever and isolated them it is not better?
I meant you can find mosquitoes everywhere and if they can't find a dengue infected person to bite they wont be spreading the dengue virus, right? To me the problem of finding and killing Aedes mosquitoes seems to be gargantuan compare to the problem of finding people infected with dengue.

Questions that can help answer this questions:

1. Is the dengue virus water borned?
2. Who, what is the natural host of the dengue virus? For example can you find the virus living in a plant?
3. Is there a quick test kit for the dengue virus for human testing.

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Snow may not be kids' play all the time


Japan death toll from heavy snow rises to 84
Photo by AP.

The death toll from heavy snow in Japan has reached 84, as relatively warm weather over the weekend sparked avalanches, killing two people.
A 54-year-old man died in hospital after being rescued from the wreckage of his car garage which was crushed by accumulated snow, local media reported.
The man was trapped for two hours under the wreckage in Myoko city, northwest of Tokyo, one of the areas hardest hit by heavy snow in the past month, reports said.
Two mentally disabled men were buried under a wooden-framed house that was also crushed under snow in nearby Joetsu, the reports said. One managed to escape but the other died.
Temperatures rose Saturday in many areas heavily blanketed in snow causing avalanches, including one some 300 to 400 meters long (990 to 1,320 feet) and 30 to 40 meters wide at a ski slope.
Police are investigating whether anyone was injured on the slope in Shimane prefecture, west of Tokyo.
The Japanese Meteorological Agency issued warnings for avalanches caused by the rapid increase in temperatures and rain over the weekend in the areas covered by heavy snow."

Friday, January 13, 2006

Water By The Tonnes: Tsunami In Indonesia

How are you to know your beach front home is safe from Nature. Capture here a short video of the 2005 tsunami engulfing a beach front hotel.

Tsunami Footage 1 - SURFERmag.com
SURFERmag.com 3 min 44 sec - Sep 30, 2005 SURFERmag.com