Dengue
One of our friends is in the hospital with Dengue. She doesn't live in
the country or a slum neighborhood. She lives in Chanis, a middle class
area with clean streets and regular garbage pickup.
Here are a couple of cites about Dengue from the CDC website. You can read the whole article at: http://tinyurl.com/dtefl
“Dengue, a rapidly expanding disease in most tropical and
subtropical areas of the world, has become the most important arboviral
disease of humans. More than 2.5 billion persons now live in areas at
risk of infection, and attack rates for reported disease in epidemics
are in the range of 1 per thousand to 1 per hundred of the population.
Infection rates (that is, proportion of the population that is
infected,”
“The principal vector mosquito, Ae. aegypti, is most frequently
found in or near human habitations and prefers to feed on humans during
the daytime. It has two peak periods of biting activity: in the morning
for several hours after daybreak and in the late afternoon for several
hours before dark. The mosquito may feed at any time during the day,
however, especially indoors, in shady areas, or when it is overcast.
Mosquito breeding sites include artificial water containers such as
discarded tires, uncovered barrels, buckets, flower vases or pots,
cans, and cisterns.”
Today's (Sunday May 20, 2007) La Prensa has a front page article about
the increase in Dengue cases, which are up 290%. Just as an aside, La
Prensa claims a 65% increase with 359 cases a year ago and 1050 this
month. I guess that's some of that 'New Math' I used to hear about.
I don't mean to be alarmist, but you can get Dengue in Panama, even in
the city. Take the standard precautions to control mosquitos and try
not to go outside any more than necessary in the early morning and
early evening hours. You might want to try a homemade mosquito trap.
I'll have a report on how well they work for the next newsletter. The
plans to build one are at:
http://www.diyhappy.com/quick-and-dirty-mosquito-trap/
Manhole Covers
One serious hazard in the Panama City area is missing manhole covers.
While manhole cover theft is not a new problem in Panama it has become
more common since the Chinese drove up the price of scrap iron a couple
of years ago. In one respect, the higher prices improved the country by
giving incentive to junk collectors, who have long since collected all
the junk cars and other easy pickings for sale to scrap dealers, and
are now busily collecting manhole covers. The open manholes can be
especially dangerous to pedestrians, motorcyclists and small car
drivers. Years ago, a coworker spent several days in the hospital with
cracked ribs and other injuries when he fell through an open manhole on
a dimly-lit street. I suggest a small flashlight and vigilence if you
do a lot of walking at night in the city.
Another Gripe
Riba Smith introduced their house brand of milk several years ago and
it was a hit. In those early days, there were chunks of butterfat in
the milk and it had that raw milk taste that anyone who's ever tasted
it loves. It was one of the reasons why we switched almost exclusively
to Riba Smith for groceries. Sadly, Riba Smith has succumbed to the
national business model of introducing a quality product and then
degrading the quality while raising the price. Today Riba Smith milk is
no better than Bonlac, both of which are far better than Estrella Azul
and several other brands. Estrella Azul tastes like reconstituted
condensed milk. Some of the other brands are even worse. BTW, as long
as we're on the subject of Riba Smith, don't waste your money on their
pecan pies. They're really bad.
Buying a Used Car
Reader Hal White writes from the frozen State of Alaska about
my tips on buying a used car in Panama (See the Living in Panama
page) with more good tips. Thanks, Hal.
“One
error used car buyers continually make is failure to check out all the
things they can check out themselves, without a mechanic’s help.
By this I mean test every electrical circuit: headlights, turn signals,
hazard lights, side lights, heater, AC, dome light, radio. Broken motor
mounts are detectable by powering the engine from a dead stop, which
will make a broken mount apparent. Brakes should be firm, no brake
light and not “pump up”. Acceleration should be smooth from
any speed. Lastly, while running the vehicle slowly on a secluded
street, violently turn the steering wheel back and forth to determine
the condition of the shocks and suspension. If everything on your list
and mine check out, lastly you want to check for how quiet and smooth
the engine runs. Sometimes less is more.”
“One thing I didn't mention that I always like to see, along
with an engine that hasn't been cleaned and sanitized the day before,
is I like to touch the engine before I even start it up. If it's
cold, I'm happy, because as you know cold starts (particularly up here
in Alaska) tend to tell you everything about the condition of the
engine and functionality of it's emissions systems. It's best by
far to start an engine cold and listen for noise, hesitations and
malfunctions as it simply sits and idles. As you know, that's the
acid test as many marginal engines function quite well once warmed up
and cruising down the road, if not from an emissions standpoint, from
the driver's point of view.”
Hal also asked if cars must pass emissions tests in Panama, and since I
forgot to answer in my reply, I'll answer here. Back in the mid 90s,
Panama announced that the following year all cars would have to pass a
sniffer test. Unfortunately, the only place in Panama that had a
tailpipe sniffer was the University of Panama. Like so many half-baked
plans that come out of the legislature (Panama is no different from
back home, in that respect) it was never put into action.