What's the weather like out there? "It's hot! Damn hot! Real hot!

The weather the other day made me think of that classic film, Good Morning Vietnam!

Yes, funnily enough, it's hot.  Damn hot.

Arthur's nursery organised a little 'graduation' for those who are moving on to big school (we hope Arty will - more on that in a moment or two).  And there we were sitting out in the garden at 10am, sweating.  Sweat pouring off.  I wanted to go and lie under an air-con unit and not move!

The seasons are changing.  My last blog was about this.  The humidity levels are increasing but pleasingly the mosquitoes are decreasing in number.  For the time being anyway.  Soon the dengue season will be upon us and then the risk of another few visits to hospital will increase again. 

Thinking of tropical diseases, I was contemplating a number of ones I've not heard of before, including the Chikungunya virus and Nipah virus.  As a matter of public health information, I thought I would share the symptoms of these as well as dengue and malaria (dengue being more of a problem for us in Dhaka than malaria):

Dengue (from CDC website):
The principal symptoms of dengue are:

• High fever and at least two of the following:
  • Severe headache
  • Severe eye pain (behind eyes)
  • Joint pain
  • Muscle and/or bone pain
  • Rash
  • Mild bleeding manifestation (e.g., nose or gum bleed, petechiae, or easy bruising)
  • Low white cell count

Malaria (from CDC website)

More commonly, the patient presents with a combination of the following symptoms:

• Fever
• Chills
• Sweats
• Headaches
• Nausea and vomiting
• Body aches
• General malaise

Chikungunya (from WHO)
is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash.

Nipah Virus (from CDC) - apparently the risk here is from bat wee on fruit.
After exposure and an incubation period of 5 to 14 days,illness presents with 3-14 days of fever and headache, followed by drowsiness, disorientation and mental confusion. These signs and symptoms can progress to coma within 24-48 hours.

So - what's the common symptom?  Well, mainly fevers and headaches.  Hence the slight anxiety when Arty has a high fever and a temperature!

And on the subject of Arty, he had an assessment to get into 'big school' the other day.  It was really quite entertaining.  Now before I start this, I should say that his sister recently went through a phase of coming home from school and calling everything (and sometimes everyone) stupid.  So the assessment goes like this:

Teacher: Can you tell me your name?
Arty: Arty
Teacher: Is that your nickname?
Arty (who is three and never heard the word nickname before): stares blankly.
Teacher: What is your middle name?
Arty: Mummy
Teacher: What is your full name?
Arty: Arthur Mummy
Teacher: Do you have another name?
Mummy: Arty - what do we call you when you've been a bit naughty (thinking he would repeat his full name - you know, when you say 'Arthur Thomas Brian Medway' in a stern voice)
Arty: Stupid

Ha ha.  How I chuckled...and how I wait for the letter from the school to have me arrested!

Finally, I've been inspired by some photos up on the wall in a friends apartment.  They are of an old cinema in the heart of Old Dhaka.  It's made me want to go when the weather is cooler and so I have a plan to visit some of the old building of Old Dhaka.  To maybe inspire others here is a link I found to some similar photos:

http://thebigindianpicture.com/2013/02/shonar-cinema/