News headlines are telling us that Zika Virus is making a lot of people in India sit up and take notice. We are informed that officials from the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare will catch and screen mosquitoes. Health Department workers will also be tasked with “watching over mosquitoes in airports”. So finally we will now see at least some of these officials engaged in activities we know they are able to perform; you know… मच्छर मारना (machchhar marna) ?
Screening mosquitoes you say?
But I thought we were already ‘screening’ mosquitoes… after all we all do have mesh screens to keep those suckers (pun very much intended) out already, don’t we? Oh! Right! They mean medical screening! So perhaps each mosquito will be handed a detailed health questionnaire to fill out (in triplicate, since government officials tend to be rather punctilious about this) where they will set out their detailed medical history and perhaps that of close family members as well? Maybe they will have to furnish proof of residence as well?
Pursuant to this the mosquitoes will perhaps be asked to undergo a battery of tests? Blood samples will be drawn and the mosquito will be politely requested to deliver a urine sample as well? Do mosquitoes urinate?
In Mumbai, increase in mosquito populations around the airport has raised concerns. Entomological surveillance will be initiated to keep the mosquito density in check around the 400m radius of the airport, say reports. Will mosquitoes be given airport badges?
Don’t laugh they actually did perform MRIs on those mosquitoes. 2408 adult female Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes (also responsible for transmitting yellow fever, chikungunya, dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever) were caught from 18 localities in Delhi and subjected to MRI tests.
Dr Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) of the Union Health Ministry has said that they would catch mosquitoes randomly from different areas to test in their laboratories. So will officials be tasked with the job or catching mosquitoes? Will they be sitting around clapping their hands in the attempt to catch them ज़िंदा या मुर्दा, (dead or alive)? Visions of white coated scientists running about with fly swatters or butterfly nets come rather incongruously to mind right there.
Clearly Zika is making a lot of people sit up and take notice….
Author – Reena Daruwalla
