Mozzie Scare

Yesterday evening, as I was getting ready for dinner, I caught a whiff of smoke coming in through the windows. The instant the familiar smell hit my nose, I knew that there must have been a dengue case reported in my neighbourhood. And true enough, the local council guys soon came into view with their fogging machines, covering the entire area with a blanket of hazy smoke-filled insecticide.

The strange thing though is that these guys just made their rounds along the inner roads surrounding our housing area. I opened my front doors wide expecting them to come into the house to do a quick fogging in the hope that the nasty mozzies would not have a chance of hiding in my house but surprise, surprise, those guys never came by! They just whizzed by my house and in the process did a pretty good job fogging my garden area. Now I'm left wondering (and worried) if the aedes mosquitoes, having been fogged out of their hiding place outside, have not in turn sought refuge INSIDE my house which is relatively fog-free.

My neighbour confirmed that someone indeed had been struck down by dengue fever about 300m from our houses. J, my 9 year-old, who has been playing basketball earlier in the garden with the family dog has a few fresh mosquito bites around her legs and arms. Now I'm truly worried and wished those damn foggers had taken the time to come round and do a thorough fogging inside my house.

Mosquitoes are such an unavoidable pest in a tropical country like Malaysia. We keep our houses and compound clean to prevent possible breeding grounds, and yet they are everywhere, especially so if there are lots of greenery around. How do we keep ourselves and our loved ones safe from the dangers posed by the aedes mosquitoes? After all, they do fly around, away from their original breeding ground, right? I'm praying hard that there won't be anymore dengue cases in my neighbourhood. Right now, I'm really spooked.