UNITED STATES—The dengue fever of which I speak is not the Los Angeles based psychedelic rock band that mingles Cambodian rock with 60s and 70s pop. It is rather a mosquito borne disease that could infiltrate my dwelling after Lupe, the erratic pit bull lab, saw fit to leap atop a bench below the window that provided a cool vent for the overheated living room, and slashed it with the mark of Lupe: a perfect vertical + sign. The window screen has become four drooped panels that give free passage to mosquitoes and other winged vermin.
The mosquitoes come now and again to share their supersonic buzz to my ear. They are the dengue’s emissaries. A keen shriek in the dark night. Thanks to my sojourns in the semi-tropics of Puerto Vallarta, and other lands of the hammocks, I have developed a lightning-quick reflex hand clap in that, more often than not, silences the high-pitched hum. There is a tinge of sadness, too, in that silence.
Still there is cause for concern. Dengue indeed has caused more than 5000 human lives to be silenced in recent years. If chagas doesn’t get you dengue fever could. Symptoms arise from three to 14 days following the initial infection. In some instances, the disease shows no symptoms. Then again, what you don’t know might hurt less in the end.
When the symptoms do unmask, they can include a fever, headaches, nauseousness and pain in muscles and joints. Also, there is a concomitant itching and rash. The way an infection comes about can be likened to a safecracker lining up all the wheels. That is, you can be bit by one kind, when there are actually four different kinds. Suffering one type of dengue, one develops immunity only to that kind.
Though sufferers usually recover within five to seven days, there’s severe dengue, which poses a threat to life. Severe cases may require a blood transfusion and hospitalization.
Dengue fever can be discouraged by not going to the tropics, though it seems you just can’t get away from them this September. You can also wear long-sleeve shirts. Use insect repellent. There’s Permethrin, an insecticide that is reputed to last through several washings. (Why can’t they invent a laundry detergent that last through several washings.)
The experts recommend no getting exposed by not leaving your house during mosquitoes’ delectable biting hours. They also recommend sleeping under a bed net if your sleeping area is outdoors. And of course these chirpy experts recommend window screens. Which brings us back to the start of the story. And the slashed window screen.
Which causes me to exclaim: Lupe, Lupe, what hast thou wrought?
To be continued…
