Kerosene, Motor Oil and DDT

Kerosene, Motor Oil and DDT

Among our many concerns before coming to India was the dread of contracting malaria. Helen obtained a one-month supply of Malarone. Malarone is taken daily. Another medication called Mefloquine, taken weekly, has the side effect of causing loss of memory. Jay’s doctor shared that some businessmen who appropriately start their Mefloquine regimen one or two weeks prior to departure arrive at their destinations addled and lost. We opted for the Malarone option. Given our waning middle-aged minds, the thought of increasing our forgetfulness was distressing. Now…what was I going to write?

Oh yes…mosquitoes and malaria.

As it turns out, there is an aggressive and apparently successful local campaign to reduce or eliminate the mosquito threat. Newspapers implore people to remove containers with standing water or to simply spray with kerosene, motor oil or DDT. Our apartment complex employs a man with a cloth mask who daily fumigates the exterior of our large complex with billowing clouds of DDT.

So our malaria concerns have been reduced, our prescription of Malarone remains unopened and our health concerns about the traffic air pollution has a competitor in our man with the cloth mask.