Today, Carnival Tuesday, is a good day to write about this little mosquito because nobody really cares about mosquitos except some strange characters at UWI who prefer going about trapping them instead of watching cricket at the Oval, and nobody is going to read this article because most people are out on the street watching women smack around. But then, anyone at home this day is the likeliest to do something about mosquitos. They may start something. A national movement to eliminate Aedes aegypti!
Aedes aegypti or "The Unpleasant One of Egypt," (from the Greek a?d?s, unpleasant, and the country where it was first studied), is also known as the yellow fever mosquito from its major influence on the transmission of yellow fever. We no longer see yellow fever because of the excellent vaccine that prevents it.
It's a lovely little mosquito really, well suited to living with us and it just loves humans. Mi casa, su casa sort of thing. It should really be called mosquita, the feminine of the Spanish word mosquito from whence it derived, since it is the female that causes all the trouble when it bites a human and transmits yellow fever, dengue, Chik V, West Nile fever, something called Bunyamwera fever and now Zika. The male does not bite humans, they are vegetarians and live on fruit, another plus for the vegetarian lifestyle.
The young lady mosquito does enjoy a good bite and suck of human blood and she has the capability of doing this silently, so you do not know she is on you. Older "cougars" however do most of the biting and sucking, feeding not only on humans and other mammals like your dog or cat, but on fruit. Typical, I suppose.
A. aegypti doesn't live in the ground or in swamps or any kinds of places where you would normally find mosquitos. It's a mosquito that thrives in artificially human-made habitats, tyres and cans, plastic containers and rain barrels and things like that. It's really a kind of human parasite, the cockroach of the mosquito world. It's more common in poor neighbourhoods because of overcrowding and poor sanitation but it can still occur in wealthy neighbourhoods, in flower pot bases and ornamental plants. It loves to rest in wardrobes, under beds, behind furniture, on "dark wall surfaces close to the floor" and on hanging articles like curtains, towels and clothes. It love a house!
So what are we supposed to do to get rid of this pest, carrier of deadly diseases and perhaps co-founder of what may come to be called "Zika babies," taking over from the better known "Carnival babies"? It's simple but so hard to do, it's laughable. Because personal responsibility is key. That is the problem.
To repeat. Aedes is a house mosquito. It lives inside the house, with us. It likes humans.
Public spraying of malathion is useless because malathion does not reach inside your house. You have to kill the mosquito inside your house and destroy its breeding places in your yard.
The Aedes breeds in standing water: any container that can hold water, no matter how small or large. To kill the Aedes you have to clean up inside your house: vases, flower pots, ashtrays anything that can contain water. And around the yard of any empty containers: tyres, KFC boxes etc. The thing can breed in a bottle cap. It also means you have to start a neighbourhood group to clean up the neighbourhood. It's no use cleaning up your house and yard only. This little lady can fly as far as 200 metres from where she was born.
Then you have to allow the MoH people inside your yard and house to spray. That spray lasts for up to six weeks so any mosquito eggs that are missed by the first spraying, die when they hatch a couple of weeks later.
Now even if you get Zika, that should not be a problem since only a few people get the Guillain Barre paralysed business. The problem is the microcephaly that may be caused by the Zika virus if you are pregnant. If this relationship is confirmed, it again comes back to personal responsibility.
There is no way to know if you are going to get Zika and most people who get Zika feel nothing. You should then either 1) consider deferring pregnancy through abstinence or contraceptives for the next year or two until you have confirmed by a blood test that you are immune to Zika and, 2) take the usual methods to protect yourself from the little lady bite, by using all or a combination of the following:
i) Air-conditioning because cold quiets the mosquitos and also decreases the ability of Zika virus to replicate within the mosquito;
ii) screens over your windows and doors;
iii) clothing: the Aedes loves to bite parts of the body that are near the ground. She loves the smell of feet. Wear long sleeves and long pants and socks and shoes at the times she bites the most: a couple of hours after sunrise and before sunset;
iv) use a mosquito repellent containing DEET 10 to 25 per cent.
If you are unfortunate enough to contract Zika while pregnant you will unwittingly then become part of another great research project, similar to the feeding of formula to babies or the eating of genetically modified foods that corporate medicine, with our unblinking acceptance, has brought us over the years.