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Tuesday, May 26, 2020

213. Why some cities with fewer mosquitoes have more dengue? P S Remesh Chandran

213

Why some cities with fewer mosquitoes have more dengue?

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Raman Oza. Graphics: Adobe SP.

On the very day the Times Of India selected Trivandrum as the Most Beautiful City in Kerala, it also had to report that of all the cities in Kerala, Trivandrum was the one in the most grip of dengue. Is it not horrible to conceive death and destruction and disease as beauty? The Government of Kerala and the health authorities of this state were asked a simple question by a Times Of India reader: Cochin and Trivandrum are two major cities in Kerala. Trivandrum does not have even a thousandth part of as much mosquitoes as there are in Cochin. But Trivandrum has a thousand times more dengue cases than Cochin. Why is it so? Does not that mean there is another agent spreading this dengue in Trivandrum? The Government of Kerala and the health authorities in this state remained silent on this question. Nor did the Times Of India reporters in Trivandrum ask the state authorities this question.

Mosquitoes have extra ordinary survival skills. They can survive in heavy rain and fog. They have survived even heavy fires in the Amazon rain forests. A single rain drop is many times heavier than a mosquito’s weight and one drop falling on a mosquito would instantly kill it but it evades by flying always in deviating paths to escape from each single drop. Even if the whole world is set on fire to kill them, they will escape and return to kill the world. History of the planet through calamities of flood and fire proves this. In spite of his efforts through millenniums man has not been able to get the world rid of mosquitoes. In fact, mosquito problem in cities like Trivandrum is not as severe as in other Kerala cities like Cochin except in the coastal areas and Cochin has not shown signs of having as much dengue and chikungunya as in Trivandrum. Therefore the reason for the abundance of dengue cases in Trivandrum is resting with not mosquitoes but some other breeding agent in nature. The reason and the root is not mosquitoes but dogs. The carrier and the injector of the viruses are tried to be eliminated but the breeder is still there roaming freely.

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About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Editor of Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum. Author of several books in English and in Malayalam. And also author of Swan: The Intelligent Picture Book. Born and brought up in the beautiful village of Nanniyode in the Sahya Mountain Valley in Trivandrum, in Kerala. Father British Council trained English teacher and Mother University educated. Matriculation with distinction and Pre Degree Studies in Science with National Merit Scholarship. Discontinued Diploma studies in Electronics and entered politics. Unmarried and single.

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E-Mail: bloombookstvm@gmail.com

Post: P. S. Remesh Chandran, Editor, Sahyadri Books, Trivandrum, Padmalayam, Nanniyode, Pacha Post, Trivandrum- 695562, Kerala State, South India.

212. Why the British pay a higher price in old age for family relations? P S Remesh Chandran

212

Why the British pay a higher price in old age for family relations?

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Jamin Riverside. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Everyone knows that the British are great admirers of dogs. Most of them extend their love to their dogs which they deny to their children. Dogs are let to lie with them in their rooms, often in their beds. Their toddlers are left to lie and sleep alone in a separate room- mostly in the family nursery room in crèche, even before they are even one year old. This is what affected their present day social structure- children leaving parents in their old age, abandoning them in old age homes. In India it rarely happens, and in countries like China, Tibet, Japan, Indonesia and Ceylon also. That is the price the British dog lovers pay in their old age for substituting dogs for children. One can say and argue that their children grow up more independently than the children in the Asian countries mentioned and more early too, but within that time the ardence between the parents and their children- the very cementing bond of human relations in man's society- is irredeemably lost. It is not unemotional haughty brutes that we need to build our society but ardent affectionate young men who respect and take care of their elders. An average British man now finds himself marooned in an island of hostility in his old age because he once had no love left to be shared with his sons and daughters after pouring all what he had as parental love on his dogs. The British who ruled India for a very long time were startled at the common sight of children- young and old alike- sleeping in parents’ rooms without leaving any privacy for anyone, but they did not understand that it was the bond which very early cemented and held together parent-child relations in India and other Asian countries and prompted them to never part from each other at any age.

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211. Press interviewing a District Medical Officer of Health in Trivandrum (Imaginary of course!) P S Remesh Chandran

211

Press interviewing a District Medical Officer of Health in Trivandrum. (Imaginary of course!)

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Simaah. Graphics: Adobe SP.

“Are you accusing that dengue is entirely due to mosquitoes?”

“Yes, there is no other reason.”

“Do you agree dengue is a Zoonosis disease which is caused by viruses?”

“Yes, that is basic knowledge.”

“Is dengue an Arboviral infection which needs an animal reservoir host for the virus to complete its life cycle?”

“Yes, that also is basic science but there have been disagreements….”

“What disagreements...? I was quoting from W.H.O. article in which it is stated that arthropod vectors such as ticks which are abundant in dog bodies are needed for maturing this virus?.”

“Then it might be true.”

“Is it true that these viruses are spread to man by mosquitoes who themselves get infected from dogs and monkeys?”

“Then it might be the monkeys, not dogs.”

“Do you have dogs?”

“Yes, I have three.”

“Which is the possible source of this disease, considering the number of monkeys and the number of dogs in this district?”

“According to your statement, it has to be the dogs.”

“Then why are authorities hunting mosquitoes and excluding dogs from the hunt; why don’t you tell people about the role of dogs so that they can take precautions and guard against this disease?”

“Because, dogs are protected by the central government; mosquitoes are not.”

“So the government is going after the second accused, leaving the first accused uncharged?”

“Yours is a damned newspaper which does not even have an editor.”

“Who said it?”

“Mr. TJS George recently, perhaps he might have wished to become your editor…why are you asking me these absurd questions?”

“Because I can…why are you not answering my questions scientifically?”

“Because I cannot.”

All of a sudden a newspaper reporter who had been sleeping at the back in a chair sat up straight and asked:

“Have you ever read Dr. A. J. Cronin’s famous novel The Citadel which is a quick look into the ethics of medical profession?”

“No, I do not have much time for reading, except medical books…why are you bringing this up?”

“Because it is relevant, and you should know about an incident described in this novel. The young Dr. Manson found out that a generations-old, rusted sewage line seeping contents into water lines was the cause of colleform-related epidemics and deaths in the coal districts of England which the municipal authorities won’t replace fearing the heavy costs its replacement would incur. The DMO of that English district warned him he was entering the red zone, but for his love of people in his district, helped Dr. Manson to dynamite the sewage line secretly and get it immediately replaced by the municipality. Trace the actual source of an epidemic and do what is needed boldly. It is your people who are dying there in your district due to dengue.”

So the press meet ended in bedlam. It was accused by the government that the press behaved irreverently towards the DMO. The press charged that the DMO did not rise up to scientific standards.

(The newspaper mentioned here was the Times of India and this article was written for and first published as comment in the Times of India).

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210. For whatever inhuman purposes are dogs used! P S Remesh Chandran

210

For whatever inhuman purposes are dogs used!

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Tania Dimas. Graphics: Adobe SP.

We will wonder for whichever inhuman purposes dogs could be used by people. In the northern city limit areas of Trivandrum there is a very quiet place like a rural village situated inside a town. Behind a Goddess Temple there lived a very poor family. One of their girls was a very brilliant student. One day a very rich lady came to live there in a rented house nearby. One morning she asked the poor girl to go to a shop and purchase something for her, as if the child was her errand girl. The child said her father won’t allow it since she had to study hard to pass the entrance examination for securing admission to medical course. We don’t know infuriated whether by the inservitude of the girl or by the jealousy at the girl getting medical admission, the lady took her car, went somewhere and returned with four fierce dogs, parking one each in front of the house, back and sides. She got built perhaps the smallest animal cages in Trivandrum, got the dogs inside with clanking chains and all and got them barking without stop all day and night. Some say there were one in the terrace and another in the bedroom too. Though her house was a two storied modern building, it had no space, no compound, and what space there was around the house was floor tiled. Naturally, she took a morning and an evening walk each day for relieving the dogs in the streets. The people there became furious at the temple surroundings, nearby pathways and the water pond there being soiled and polluted by these dogs. When the poor child complained that she could not learn her lessons due these four dogs continuously barking, this jealous woman went to the market, purchased four heavy tin plates for pretentiously feeding the dogs and put them and kept them all inside the cages. She also air-conditioned the house so that she won’t have to hear the horrible sounds coming from the dog cages night and day, the continuous dog barking, chains dragging and clanking and metal plates grating and tinkling- all a total horrible bedlam. People of that area complained to the district collector of Trivandrum, the mayor of the city, the director of the animal welfare department and the society for the prevention of cruelty to animals, about the soiling of their pathways, the continuous dog barking from the house and the inhuman treatment of dogs. The City Corporation sent their health inspector to inspect and his report said there was no such public nuisance in that area. Some said he reported there was even no such house in the area! He was paid 1000 rupees, the lady told people. The other offices also sent officers who, she said, were all paid 500 rupees each and the problem was solved. We will wonder why these authorities should take action. The collector has three dogs, the mayor has four and the SPCA Trivandrum is a haunt of rich ladies who do not even have any other place to go in the evenings when their husbands are irrigating in their club bars.

Images Courtesy: Pixabay.
Written and first published on:

FROM THE BOOK:

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About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

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209. Those who wish to keep a non-human in their house should also be prepared to do whatever is necessary to safeguard humans. P S Remesh Chandran

209

Those who wish to keep a non-human in their house should also be prepared to do whatever is necessary to safeguard humans

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Stock Snap. Graphics: Adobe SP.

If we are all set to spend a considerable portion of our fortune for keeping dogs, we must also be prepared to adopt methods to keep them from continuous barking. They can be trained in the houses. If they can be trained extensively to bring the morning paper from the lawn, bring the scotch bottle from the bar, chase the birds and cats that stray into the compound, baby sit children when parents are away, lead blind men on the road, catch thieves by smelling and detect explosives by sensing, they can also be trained not to bark. Several decent dog owners do that. If people in the house are not skilled and patient enough to do that, there are trainers there who do it for a fee. Spend that money. Surgical and chemical innovations have been in every country for preventing dogs from continuously barking with or without reason. Spend money on them darlings. Mechanical devises also are available for purchase in the market. Infra red dog bark arresters can be purchased and fitted inside or outside the house which produces response waves of low frequencies and interferes with the dog’s interest in barking- actually hampering and wetting its zeal to bark. These responsive waves are inaudible to man or most of his other pets. If these gadgets are not produced or available in your country, import them from abroad spending dollars and pounds. There are simple dog collars too to prevent them from barking too often. Those who wish to keep a non-human in their houses with them should also be prepared to do whatever is necessary to safe guard humans.

Images Courtesy: Pixabay.
Written and first published on:

FROM THE BOOK:

Buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0874WBRQY

Tags:

English Essays Articles,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

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208. How many dog activists can escape a medical examination for animal promiscuousness? P S Remesh Chandran

208

How many dog activists can escape a medical examination for animal promiscuousness?

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by PicUpYourPhoto. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Why deny this simple fact which is universally accepted? How many dog activists in any given country can escape a medical examination for evidence of animal promiscuousness? Punjab streets do have the problem of packs of dogs attacking humans in public roads. It happen everyday in states from Kashmir to Kerala. Times Of India regularly printed articles reporting these untoward incidents. When the number of dogs increases and they form into packs which process is only natural, they gradually become bold enough to attack humans. The increasing number of attacks on human explains only one thing: dog population has already surpassed human population in India. You are only going to see the most evil consequences of this situation in coming years. We love human beings, not dogs. There indeed are a few people in our society who despise human society for the 2 dollar pleasure from dogs. Let them leave India with their dogs- there are passenger satellites going to space regularly. If one more dengue death occurs, if one more wave of chikungunya appears, it more human being is bitten to pieces by dogs in Indian roads, there certainly will be more acerbic opposition to this kind of anti-human and anti-societal laws enacted by the ignorant, haughty and bought out people’s representatives. Be sure of it. Our problem is people dying around us due to dengue and chikungunya and a host of other arbo-viral infections and our children now being unable to walk to school for fear of dog attacks. It is now the street-walking common man versus the car-riding dog lovers. When government of India begins to investigate how much foreign money comes to India for promoting dog activism in the country and from whom in which countries fro which organizations, we will begin to see things reversing.

Images Courtesy: Pixabay.
Written and first published on:

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207. The news paper article that never appeared. P S Remesh Chandran

207

The news paper article that never appeared

P. S. Remesh Chandran

Editor, Sahyadri Books & Bloom Books, Trivandrum

Image by Free-Photos. Graphics: Adobe SP.

Each day thousands of newspapers use tons of precious newsprint to publish news of dengue outbreaks in different parts of the world. Accompanying these news reports there will be the standard charts of occurrence of the disease in previous years, picture of the life cycle of mosquitoes, pictures of dirty and stagnant water pools, and photos of patients lying in hospital beds with tubes passing through whatever orifices there are and equipments of every size and shape connected to not part exempted. Dengue and other viral diseases is now news, not concern. When we read these articles appearing in the world’s newspapers, we will normally think these papers are anxious about the welfare, safety and security of people. It is nothing of the kind. They are only after news available at no cost. Every newspaper in the world is very careful to not include the following paragraphs in their reports:

The news paper article that never appeared.

While commenting on the unnecessary death of people due to dengue and other animal-borne diseases, leading research scientists in the biological, epidemiological and microbiological fields and the health officials in the country condemned the usual practice of going after the mosquitoes after each outbreak of the disease, instead of going after the real carrier and the reason for this disease which is dog. Our staff members were asked by the editor to look into this new argument and validate if there is any truth in it. After consulting the noted biologists and virologists of the country, and also through televised consulting of the specialists at the United States Army Medical Research Institute on Diseases (USAMRID), they learned quite a few facts and came up with the a few unpleasant inferences which are laid out here for our readers’ information:

Dengue and other similar diseases including chikungunya are not ordinary fevers but viral infections. The viruses responsible for this disease have to be carried to places by arthropod vectors- six-legged insects like ticks- and that is why these infections are called Arbo Viral Infections. State Health Authorities and prominent scientists working in noted University Biology Departments told our reporters that though all Arboviral infections have to be contracted through the direct bite of a mosquito, the virus cannot complete its life cycle inside that mosquito. The virus has to have an animal reservoir host to live in for a time before they ripen and become powerful and virulent enough to cause the disease. Usually these animal reservoir hosts are mammalians among whom monkeys and dogs are the commonest. They have the most chance of providing a home to these viruses for a time.

It was proved beyond doubt that even after killing a considerable number of mosquitoes (which is never) and taking basic measures to prevent their breeding (which also is never), as you know they will still breed in great numbers and as great clouds in the Amazon Rain Forests and the great African Swamps, these arboviral infections can never be controlled and dengue and other similar fevers will continue, unless their animal reservoir hosts are brought under control in numbers as well in habitats.

Since dengue is now a national threat in countries and large chunks of national revenue are spent on preventing and treating this disease, it would a total waste of effort and money if the real culprit behind is left behind. Anyway why these cycles of viral diseases traverse the world and decimate millions of people cannot be left unexplained or met with explanations touching neither here nor there. Why these waves of diseases sweep the globe at unprecedented rates has to be brought to daylight.

Revealing that the popularity of dogs, the unending enactment of dog laws, and the resultant multiplication of the dog population in the world are responsible for this spread of disease can have serious consequences not only on the peacefulness of the country but also on the very existence of our newspaper. Therefore the heads of the finance, circulation, legal and editorial departments of our paper met in confidence and deduced that putting responsibility on dogs as a carrier for arboviral infections will certainly anger the world animal lovers’ organizations and groups and may sure bring down the circulation of the paper, but if all staff perish due to ignorance in these worldwide waves of diseases, then there will be no newspaper at all. And hence this appeal to our readers!

Yours,
Editorial Team.

Written on: 19 February 2012
First published on: 19 February 2012

Images Courtesy: Pixabay.

FROM THE BOOK:

Buy: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0874WBRQY

Tags:

English Essays Articles,

About the Author P. S. Remesh Chandran:

Author Profile Of P S Remesh Chandran By Sahyadri Archives.

Sahyadri Books Online Trivandrum.

Pages

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

213. Why some cities with fewer mosquitoes have more dengue? P S Remesh Chandran

212. Why the British pay a higher price in old age for family relations? P S Remesh Chandran

211. Press interviewing a District Medical Officer of Health in Trivandrum (Imaginary of course!) P S Remesh Chandran

210. For whatever inhuman purposes are dogs used! P S Remesh Chandran

209. Those who wish to keep a non-human in their house should also be prepared to do whatever is necessary to safeguard humans. P S Remesh Chandran

208. How many dog activists can escape a medical examination for animal promiscuousness? P S Remesh Chandran

207. The news paper article that never appeared. P S Remesh Chandran

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