Tuesday, November 20, 2007

4342

Guess who's coming to dinner?

During the last two decades, Dengue Fever has been on the increase in Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s a mosquito transmitted disease with 4 virus serotypes, and having one doesn’t make a person immune-- he can get the other three. Each infection places the person at greater risk for Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF), a life threatening condition. There is an outbreak on the Mexican side of the Mexico-Texas border. So guess who’s coming to dinner? This is reported in a recent issue of JAMA. This content is free, and well worth reading when you get tired of hearing about bird flu and MRSA on CNN or Fox.

JAMA, although one of my favorite journals, has a strong liberal editorial bias when it comes to health issues which are impacted by current public policy, so no mention is made in this issue about U.S.-Mexico border security, only that, "Clinicians in the south Texas area and members of the public should be aware of the potential for DHF in addition to dengue fever in the region." Gee, thanks for the heads up.

JAMA also doesn’t go back to basics and point out that dengue fever, because it is mosquito spread, can be controlled with DDT. Although just a few mosquitoes can infect an entire household with the virus and those people can in turn infect co-workers and schoolmates, neither JAMA nor the WHO document it cites, mentions control of mosquitoes with DDT.

However, a 2005 document at Yale Global let it slip out:
    "Dubbed "breakbone fever" when it was first diagnosed more than three centuries ago, because it causes extreme pain in the joints, dengue began its global spread around Asia during World War II, when it traveled with warring armies from country to country. After the war, Aedes mosquitoes and dengue flourished along with Asia's rapid population growth and urbanization and then was carried aboard ships and planes to Africa and the Mediterranean.

    When the use of the insecticide DDT in Latin America was stopped in the 1970s after the apparent eradication of yellow fever, which Aedes mosquitoes also carries, dengue was able to stage a comeback in the New World."
The virus seems to be going first class these days, using airplanes to travel, plastic lids and containers for breeding, and residing in clean, urban settings. You definitely will not need to be living in a swampy rural area to get this virus. Dengue currently infects about 50 million people, particularly in Asia, and has researchers scratching their heads, looking at computer models, and apply for grants. "Warming globalists" will note in their hot air, alarmist messages how these diseases were once defeated, but will blame global warming on their resurgence without mentioning that DDT could be among the tools to help control them.

Maybe they think mosquitoes are on the endangered species list and need to be protected?

[Emerging Infectious Diseases also notes its mysterious suppression and then reemergence, but doesn't say why or how. The decade of the 1970s seems to hold the secret. . . could it be. . .? "In the Pacific, dengue viruses were reintroduced in the early 1970s after an absence of more than 25 years. Epidemic activity caused by all four serotypes has intensified in recent years with major epidemics of DHF on several islands. Despite poor surveillance for dengue in Africa, epidemic dengue fever caused by all four serotypes has increased dramatically since 1980. . . In 2005, dengue is the most important mosquito-borne viral disease affecting humans; its global distribution is comparable to that of malaria, and an estimated 2.5 billion people live in areas at risk for epidemic transmission."

6 comments:

Ed Darrell said...

There's a flaw in your argument. DDT has been used in Mexico consistently since 1946. If DDT works to stop mosquitoes carrying dengue, and if they are progressing through Mexico, what does that tell us about the effectiveness of DDT?

As usual, the easy, simple answer is, as Ronald Reagan promised us, wrong.

Norma said...

I guess you'll just have to read up on it. If DDT were still being used consistently, I'm sure JAMA or CDC would have noted it. I can't fathom why you are so intent on keeping people ill.

Anonymous said...

Okay, Miss Norma. You don't like it when it's pointed out that your post was both irrational and an unjustified attack on Ed Darrell. But I did think you were a big enough girl to have your misconduct publicly identified without rushing to delete the posts to hide your shame. Guess you really are that small. But you'll go to bed tonight knowing that your ego and self-image don't match the reality of your behavior.

This is the most excitement you've had all month. Back to your lonely monologues now (your comment sections are always deader than Generalissimo Franco--maybe someday you'll figure out why).

Norma said...

I've deleted your nastiness several times, but I'll leave this one up for "all" to see that I'm not writing for Chicago-areans with nothing to do but surf the internet leaving rude comments, swearing and interrupting. I've documented my opinions, which you seem unable to do. Now I've dropped you into my prayer job jar. Have a lovely Thanksgiving.

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Norma! My preference would be a prayer from a follower of Jesus, but having one from you is the next best thing!

Norma said...

Judge not . . . etc.