If there is one common thread to many conversations in Delhi these days, it is how sick everyone is.
Viral fever.
Dengue.
Chikungunya.
Seemingly everyone is sick.
In our own household, the staff are in various stages of recovery, mainly at the swollen and painful joints stage.
The chowkidar is slowly recovering from what I suspect was chikungunya,
The lovely Rajni who gives me massages – her husband is down with suspected chikungunya.
My mother in law is recovering from chikungunya.
My daughter is sick with what we hope is “only” a viral fever and not chikungunya, but only the blood test this weekend will confirm this.
Went for a run this morning & stopped to say hello to one of the early morning regulars whom I haven’t seen for while – turns out the poor man has been down with viral fever for weeks, re-started running too soon, and promptly had a relapse – which he said was way worse than the original fever.
Jeepers.
What on earth can we do to protect ourselves?
We run what I would venture to claim is a clean home. We’re all careful, we use mozzy repellents, we have mozzy screens at almost every door & window, but these little buggers know no boundaries.
The paper had an article yesterday – I think it was – telling you how to protect yourself on a house/building/city level, which is all very well in theory, but how can it possibly work in practice?
As I said, mosquitoes respect no one’s personal space or boundaries, and even though I may keep my home clean, and make sure there is no stagnant water, how the heck can I control what goes on around me? The colony where I live resembles one enormous building site these days, as bungalows are torn down to make identikit builder’s flats (I thought there was a slow down in the housing market?) and so every street has 3, 4, 5 building sites, with all the accompanying rubble and mess and puddles and – sadly – labourers living on site, in God knows what kind of condition.
When I took my daughter to our local GP when her fever started, the waiting room was packed to the gunwales. Never seen it like that before in all these years, and he said it was like that all day every day, and most cases were viral fever and/or dengue and chikungunya.
There are a zillion sites online offering advice, but this one seems pretty straightforward.
Just hope that none of you dear people is infected, and that you therefore won’t actually need these do’s & don’ts…
Ouch
I do hope Anjulie feels better soon!
Sara Childs
My friend also has same symptoms, his report will come tomorrow – body ache is killing 🙁 Sandeep Aurora, Vaibhav Bhargava, Rajiv Aneja
Like hope Anjulie feels much better very soon.
Oh no I’ve had it and it’s really painful. Get well soonest. Have homeopathy.
Nyssa has been down with fever since this morning and my alarm bells went off when she said her head and body are aching – hoping it’s not the dreaded C word doing the rounds at the moment. I completely agree with you about the problems and consequent diseases caused by the rubble etc. Hope Anjulie is doing better now? XX
I had fever a fortnight back, I suspected for same. However, clinical result suggested viral fever. Now, I am okay.
How is your daughter now? Does she still have high fever?
I agree completely with your post. It’s awfully hard to protect oneself 100% from those awful mosquitoes, especially in the local environment you describe. Wishing a speedy recovery to those you mentioned and sincerely hoping your daughter doesn’t have chikungunya.
Do hope my lovely neice is feeling better, but worrying that you are hoping it is “only” viral. Recuperation over here? Give her a hug, and take care.
Thank you Christine for your friendly advice and for sharing this.