Malarial mosquitoes biting back

Of course I have not lost my (geographical) senses. I do really mean New York, and not East Timor, the most likely place to find people with malaria, in view of the many refugees suffering from all kinds of diseases. Even clean water is in short supply.

Ten people died recently in the state of New York from a kind of mosquito-borne malaria, according to a BBC report, forcing the local health service to use helicopters to spread insecticides over suspected breeding grounds of the insects.

The report did not say if UN health officials had been consulted over the outbreak of the deadly disease. What I know for sure is that the members of UN Security Council did not hold a special session as they did when dealing with the issue of UN peacekeepers for East Timor.

If New York's former mayor Ed Koch were still in office, I would have phoned him immediately to inquire about the type of mosquitoes. I wonder whether the mosquitoes look like those in Jempang Kulon in Java, or in the Kapuas River in Kalimantan. I knew Koch when I complained to him that some nice guys mugged me of my camera when I was walking in a subway station in the Big Apple.

News about the discovery of malarial mosquitoes also has come from Scotland, causing panic among parents because these type of mosquitoes are only supposed to thrive in tropical climates. How could they migrate that far, possibly from Africa, South America or Sumatra? One commentator explained that this was proof that global warming is now a reality with a rise of at least one degree Celsius. It corresponds to reports that the Arctic icebergs have also started to melt and move. If the process continues, soon some small islands will disappear because of the rising sea level.

Personally I have been shocked to discover that mosquitoes in Java seem to have become immune to the insecticide so vigorously advertised in the media. After spraying with the stuff, it seems that some mosquitoes only lose consciousness for a couple of hours and then start biting happily again. Do I need to change brands every month?

After the New York case, can I now believe that Indonesia has been freed of the malaria plague as the authorities have claimed for years?

GANDHI SUKARDI

Jakarta