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TomG

Sep 21, 2003, 6:48 AM

Post #1 of 38 (1793 views)

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Flooding and disease potential

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What is the geographic extent of the flooding in Mexico? And what are the thoughts on disease potential? Are there expectations of more mosquitos and some malarial breakouts, or other disease worries?

A news story said that the rains are expected to go on until the end of November. Is that really the common expectation?

esperanza

Sep 21, 2003, 7:58 PM

Post #2 of 38 (1736 views)

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Re: [TomG] Flooding and disease potential

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Anytime there is warm weather coupled with standing water, we have mosquitos. In this rainy season, it seems to me (I live a block from the shore of Lake Chapala) that the mosquitos are somewhat more prevalent than last year~even though last year we had abundant rains. It's impossible to keep all their breeding places clear of water: a puddle, a flowerpot, a wheelbarrow left standing, the hollow of a log~anywhere water can accumulate and stand~all offer the environment that mosquitos need to hatch. By the grace of God we haven't had an outbreak of malaria or dengue here, although I have seen (sitting on my arm, actually) a dengue-type mosquito. They're very different in appearance from the ordinary pain-in-the-neck kind.

The heaviest rains near here have fallen in Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Jalisco. Several rivers, including the Lerma and the Santiago, have reached their capacity. Dams are full. Many people have been left homeless by flooding. Last Monday, as I was driving through Ocotlán, there were throngs of people standing on the highway bridge over the Rio Lerma, just looking down. My first thought was, 'Someone must have drowned'. And then I realized that all those people were simply staring at the enormous amount of roiling water flowing under the bridge. I was staring too: that river has not held that quantity of water in recent memory.

Last year it rained here (Jalisco) until mid-November and then promptly turned dry and cold. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see the rains last until at least mid-November this year as well. It seems to me (an amateur weather-watcher at best) that the weather has shifted just a bit and that the heavy rains are starting slightly later than usual and lasting slightly later than usual.

One last note: this morning I was considering that in addition to the rains, we've had an unusual number of overcast and very cloudy days this rainy season. Ordinarily in these parts it rains primarily at night; this year it has rained fairly frequently during the day as well. The overcast and cloudy days have kept the daytime weather slightly cooler than usual and have probably kept Lake Chapala's evaporation level down.

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(This post was edited by esperanza on Sep 21, 2003, 8:01 PM)

Kip

Sep 21, 2003, 8:08 PM

Post #3 of 38 (1733 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Flooding and disease potential

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Hi Esperanza, do you know if anyone has tried using the propane powered mosquito traps there? We've got a couple and they do seem to work, at least there are dead little bodies in there. I figure for each one trapped we eliminate about a kajillion more that will never get born. Hmmmm,...at least I'm hoping they're female!

Kip
kip

Jerry@Ajijic

Sep 21, 2003, 8:36 PM

Post #4 of 38 (1724 views)

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Re: [Kip] Flooding and disease potential

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Kip,

Are they really effective? We have a electric one with the blue florescent bulbs. It zaps a lot of bugs but there are still some misquitos that seems to prefer humans.

Kip

Sep 21, 2003, 8:49 PM

Post #5 of 38 (1719 views)

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Re: [Jerry@Ajijic] Flooding and disease potential

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Hi Jerry,

We tried the bug zappers. What they mainly attract is moths. The propane ones give off carbon dioxide and heat plus some sort of scent attractant (sp?) They think they're going in after some warm breathing bit of lunch and once they check in they don't check out. Could they catch more than they are? I don't know but we haven't had a real mosquito problem. There should be articles on Google,...Oh Es per anza!!!

Kip
kip

esperanza

Sep 21, 2003, 9:15 PM

Post #6 of 38 (1712 views)

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Re: [Kip] Flooding and disease potential

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Maybe I will change my nickname on here to Barney. Anyway, here's a link to the propane mosquito trap, direct to you from Google. Interesting.

http://www.1mosquito-control.com/...mosquito-machine.htm

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Sep 21, 2003, 10:41 PM

Post #7 of 38 (1706 views)

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Re: [Kip] Flooding and disease potential

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Quote

Kip writes:
....do you know if anyone has tried using the propane powered mosquito traps there? We've got a couple and they do seem to work, at least there are dead little bodies in there.....

Although the traps are killing mosquitoes the questions are:

1. Are they killing enough mosquitoes to actually be making a significant difference in the mosquito population?

2. Are they actually killing mosquitoes that would feed off of you, or are they attracting and killing mosquitoes from other locations?

3. Are they attracting more mosquitoes to your area than they are killing?

4. Are they killing the species of mosquitoes that are most in need of being controlled?

The American Mosquito Control Association has an interesting primer on mosquito traps. A lot of State agricultural extensions have also commented on them including the University of Florida and North Dakota State University.

Personally I think that such traps, if properly deployed, may provide a modicum of personal comfort, but that they have zero value for the type of vector control needed to control mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue/dengue hemorrhagic fever, West Nile virus/St. Louis encephalitis, or yellow fever, unless you were to deploy them in sufficient quantities that the increase in the greenhouse effect would be a serious concern. Since large scale mosquito eradication programs were ended in the 1970s, the distribution of Aedes aegypti the mosquito which transmits both Yellow Fever and Dengue/Dengue hemorrhagic Fever has increased in the Americas dramatically.

sfmacaws

Sep 21, 2003, 11:10 PM

Post #8 of 38 (1699 views)

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Re: [ET] Flooding and disease potential

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Ah Dengue... that's the one I worry about in the Yucatan. Malaria wouldn't be fun either so this year Mimi and I have decided to take the weekly malaria medicine. We just picked it up and we're pondering when to start taking it. You need to take it 1 week before exposure and 4 weeks after. So, we were going to wait and start taking it after we get to SMA but after reading about the flooding and heavy rains, perhaps we should start sooner. It's basically quinine and I'm probably going to have ringing ears from it so I don't want to take it any longer than necessary - as it is, we'll be on it for 6 months. Since we spent part of the summer in Minnesota, we have a good supply of DEET. Those were some big skeeters in MN but the bite felt the same as the little ones in the Yucatan.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

Uncle Donnie

Sep 22, 2003, 7:53 AM

Post #9 of 38 (1670 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Flooding and disease potential

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Many of the smaller villages along the coast post seasonal notices that inoculations are offered to counteract dengue, and in some places you'll find health alerts painted on the sides of prominent buildings.

As for the quinine pills, in the RVN I didn't know anyone who took them on a regular basis and knew only one guy who had malaria and he was infected years before in the Philippines.

I live about a block from the lake, out in the country, and so far mosquitos have been very scarce; maybe three each evening. See how different it can be from place to place?

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pathall

Sep 22, 2003, 8:30 AM

Post #10 of 38 (1656 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Flooding and disease potential

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Just for curiosity -- what does the dengue-type mosquito look like? How is it different from the regular-type? Another question -- have you had any cases of West Nile virus in Mexico? We've had, at last count, 183 cases for the first time ever here in Alberta.

Kip

Sep 22, 2003, 8:55 AM

Post #11 of 38 (1648 views)

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Re: [pathall] Flooding and disease potential

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Scary. Last year we had quite a few cases in the Midsouth. This year unless they're keeping quiet about it there doesn't seem to be a lot happening, (which I am Mucho grateful for) At $22.oo a shot the vaccine for the horses was spendy and they each had to have two and the babies three. (we have 15) The vets are getting rich, but I haven't been hearing about people contracting it either, so I really dont' know if it's the vaccine or luck keeping them safe. Which makes me wonder why they have a vaccine for horses but not for people?

Kip
kip

esperanza

Sep 22, 2003, 1:21 PM

Post #12 of 38 (1611 views)

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Re: [pathall] Flooding and disease potential

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The dengue-carrying mosquito is black with white rings around its legs and white markings on its body. The day I saw one sitting on my arm I was intrigued because it was so obviously different from the ordinary gray mosquito. I went to *ahem* Google and found it.

I've seen those painted warning signs for dengue~I believe there's one in Chapala, if I'm not mistaken.

West Nile in Mexico...here's what I read:

http://www.thehorse.com/...p?fid=4534&dpt=5

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(This post was edited by esperanza on Sep 22, 2003, 1:23 PM)

Guapo Gabacho

Sep 22, 2003, 1:51 PM

Post #13 of 38 (1604 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Flooding and disease potential

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Never have I seen a mosquito in Catemaco, Veracruz, nor have I in the past two years heard of a case of malaria around there. It is on the edge of a rain forest and I was told when I asked why that they couldn’t breed in constantly changing water. A doctor told me also that he thinks the national eradication program has been quite successful for all mosquito born problems in all of Mexico. I can’t find any reports to the contrary on the web (I read Spanish).

Yesterday the news reported six cases of malaria in Palm Beach County, Florida though.

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Kip

Sep 22, 2003, 1:52 PM

Post #14 of 38 (1604 views)

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Re: [esperanza] Flooding and disease potential

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Holy smoke Esperanza! Five thousand dead horses?!!!! I can't understand why we're not hearing about it up here! Scarier yet is there is no way of recognizing a mosquito that's a carrier of West Nile. At least that's what my vet told me. The good part, if any part of it can be good, is that it does not spread from horse to horse or horse to human.

Is the government somehow getting the manufacturer to bring the price of the vaccine down at all? The vet's up here are swearing that they're paying more than ten dollars a dose wholesale. Seems like a little unfair profit is being extorted in a time of emergency but there's only one drug company manufacturing it, so they're the only game in town. My vaccine bill was over six hundred dollars and I gave the shots myself. I can't imagine how hard the big horse breeders in Mexico with hundreds of horses are going to be hit.

Kip
kip

Esteban

Sep 22, 2003, 1:57 PM

Post #15 of 38 (1601 views)

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Re: [Guapo Gabacho] Flooding and disease potential

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Here in Mazatlan, Dengue has been reported sporadically over the summer including some HAEMORRHAGIC Dengue (the dangerous one). Mazatlan has an aggressive anti moquito program but the cases seem to be coming from the poorer colonias where the drainage both for agua negro and rain water is not sufficient.

sfmacaws

Sep 22, 2003, 2:14 PM

Post #16 of 38 (1598 views)

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Re: [Uncle Donnie] Flooding and disease potential

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Many of the smaller villages along the coast post seasonal notices that inoculations are offered to counteract dengue,

That's odd, my doctor (both the one in the US and the one in MX) told me there is no innoculation for Dengue.

We haven't taken the malaria medicine in the past, although many winter residents in our area do. We travel throughout southern MX and will be in Belize, Guatemala and Cuba this year. I don't think it would be necessary if you stay along the coast and in the tourist zone. We go back into the jungle to dive the cenotes frequently and the mosquitoes there are fierce and even deet doesn't keep all bites away. Anyway, we decided to take it this year, it's one more thing we can do to hopefully prevent illness. We also got typhoid medicine which we are taking this week. I had typhoid many years ago, it's not fun. Oh, and the Hep shots and a tetnus booster. We hope we are done with vaccinations for a few years.

re: West Nile. This is one of the reasons (newcastle quarantines are the other) we did not take our birds traveling with us this summer. It can be deadly very quickly for birds and horses. There is no vaccine for birds, only horses. I think they are testing one but it isn't available now. I'm sure it is in Mexico as many of the birds it infects but doesn't kill are migratory and probably end up in Mexico. It's a global world for virii now.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

jrice

Sep 22, 2003, 6:08 PM

Post #17 of 38 (1567 views)

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Re: [Guapo Gabacho] Flooding and disease potential

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Egad, man. We've been to Catemaco three times and had a quite significant mosquito experience each time. Had to burn coils and still got bit. It may depend on where you stay around the lake. Heck, I've been bitten several times over the past few weeks in Mexico City, to the point we're using some of those plug-in Raid things.

Uncle Donnie

Sep 22, 2003, 6:17 PM

Post #18 of 38 (1565 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] Flooding and disease potential

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RE: Dengue fever shots. These are of course administered by the local IMSS and are well advertised along the small villages of the Costalegre.

Have you checked the CDC website?

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Sep 22, 2003, 7:28 PM

Post #19 of 38 (1555 views)

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Re: [Uncle Donnie] Flooding and disease potential

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I suspect there's some confusion. To my knowledge there aren't any approved dengue vaccinations for humans. There's at least six vaccines at various stages in the development pipeline, including 2 with the 4 dengue viruses being passaged ("cultured") in different types of non-human cell cultures and 4 live-attenuated chimerics. The passaged vaccines are further along in clinical testing (the Mahidol/AP vaccine is in Phase 3 clinical testing, the Reed/GSK in combined Phase 1 &2), but the chimerics look more promising in terms of efficacy and cost of production, the latter of which is critical for a vaccine who's primary target is going to be in economically disadvantaged nations. Unfortunately, considering the hysteria that broke out over twizzled corn I suspect the chimerics, if they test out successfully are going to run into political opposition, predominately from those who have the financial resources and time but don't actually suffer the effects of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome.

The lack of a vaccine for dengue is emphasized by the existence of the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative, a consortium of government and private sector interests, international organizations, and dengue-impacted countries which was the recent recipient (managed by the International Vaccine Institute of South Korea) of a $55 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Uncle Donnie

Sep 22, 2003, 9:37 PM

Post #20 of 38 (1534 views)

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Re: [ET] Flooding and disease potential

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The confusion is wholly on my side of the table. I just remembered that dengue as it's used here refers to (I think) malaria or some other mosquito-borne condition. Let me get my act together and contact a friend in la Manzanilla for a clarification and update on my rapidly disappearing memory. Sorry for the water muddying.

UD

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TomG

Sep 22, 2003, 9:45 PM

Post #21 of 38 (1535 views)

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Re: [Uncle Donnie] Flooding and disease potential

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As for the quinine pills, in the RVN I didn't know anyone who took them on a regular basis and knew only one guy who had malaria and he was infected years before in the Philippines.

I don't know what "the RVN" is, could you tell me?

I read that a few years ago the state of Oaxaca had 15,000 reported cases of malaria in one year. It only had about 500 cases the year before, rains made the difference.

Sep 22, 2003, 10:08 PM

Post #22 of 38 (1533 views)

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Re: [TomG] Flooding and disease potential

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TomG writes:
I read that a few years ago the state of Oaxaca had 15,000 reported cases of malaria in one year. It only had about 500 cases the year before, rains made the difference.

Sounds kind of out of whack. The only statistics I have handy at home are for 2001 & 2002, which showed 280 and 247 cases respectively.

Uncle Jack

Sep 23, 2003, 4:50 AM

Post #23 of 38 (1523 views)

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Re: [TomG] Flooding and disease potential

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Republic of Viet Nam................How soon we all forget.

uj

TomG

Sep 23, 2003, 7:45 AM

Post #24 of 38 (1497 views)

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Re: [ET] Oaxaca data

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I remember it as being 1998. Oh, here I found one related link, but not the link I originally remembered:

http://www.tomzap.com/malaria.html

Here is another informative link for folks in general:

http://www.tomzap.com/malaria.html

Guapo Gabacho

Sep 23, 2003, 8:05 AM

Post #25 of 38 (1490 views)

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Re: [jrice] Flooding and disease potential

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jrice,

Egad yourself. My wife, untill this year, lived all her life in Catemaco in a house without screens or secure shutters. She says she never had a mosquito bite her, nor a fly bother her. She can't get over how many bugs we have here in Alabama and is blown away when I slap one on my arm and it spots me with my own blood. I only lived there for six months but was amazed at the lack of flying insects, which BTW, are all called mosquitos there.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.

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