Cannot hide the mosquitoes...

Keeping this secret is harmful to society.

Mosquito is to be feared for whatever that may happen to anyone now known variously as malaria, dengue and other virus infections.

I am writing in response to the title in Daily Express- “Degnue War: bio-control mosquitoes, new vaccines - 9 June 2017 following Borneo Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease Congress 2017.

This is the first time I would like to share my “relationship” with mosquitoes for good or for bad times.

Is it that bad that Borneo is a hotbed for mosquito related disease?  Maybe the most prominent death due to mosquitoes is on the very young British administrator in Jesselton in 1902. Then the clock tower was built in the memory of Francis George Atkinson, Jesselton’s first district officer who died of Malaria or ‘Borneo Fever’ at the age of 28 in December 1902.  So the clock tower is indeed a great reminder of the dreaded mosquitoes in Borneo.

Yet, we have survived in Borneo for so long and now we may have newly discovered vaccines against mosquitoes diseases.

So it is timely I share my special experiences with mosquitoes.

In my young days in Labuan, we never had mosquito netting proof for houses except we had them for our beds.  Yet, very little were heard of such diseases of mosquitoes as we hear today regularly.

Then in early 1970s, I was “awarded” a free food and free housing with 24/7 total security environment for 11 months somewhere in Kepayan not far from where I am now staying.  I was detained by the kleptocrats without trial for fear of my exposure after working so hard in the audit of the Inland Revenue Department.  Recently the IRB director did say anyone not paying their taxes could face due attention.  Did those kleptocrats really paid their taxes even up to today?

Why I want to bring up the past sick situation is that during my stay, TV (black and white) was just introduced in Sabah by the USNO Government. Many nights, the wardens who keep me company in the solitary confinement wanted to watch TV themselves would let me out to another block where there is a TV set.  During such sessions, the door of the block would be left open so that the wardens could watch TV standing nearby behind me. Soon I would go to sleep and waking up to see many mosquitoes on my exposed hands.  Yet I did not “catch” those mosquitoes sicknesses or diseases.  Do I have some special relationship with mosquitoes that did not bite me but stayed on my hands?  I also did not feel any bites.  I could not complain to the wardens.

Also I had been staying in many rented houses in and around Kota Kinabalu since I returned from London in 1980.  All those houses are not mosquitoes proof as it is today.  The mosquitoes menace as it is known is indeed worrying until I consume the special simple herbal drink.  What could I do about that?  Nothing.

Then one day my mechanic friend told me a simple and straight true story about his father given up to die by the doctor for dengue.  The patient was asked to go home to die.  Then suddenly a friend appeared and told the patient that all he needed was a herbal item costing RM5.  Drinking the boiled herbal item, the patient survived and went back to the doctor who was shocked.

So I also took up this simple cheap drink and what did I find?  My days of bloated mosquitoes sucking my blood in my sleep and found on the bedroom walls in the mornings are over.  I could not see any such bloated mosquitoes and so I believe those mosquitoes had died/fainted after sucking my blood.

The herbal item is easily available in Sabah but medical doctors practising on western medicine cannot prescribe such herbal items or face losing their practising licence with the Medical Board .  So it is really useless to share with such medical doctors as these professional continue with the nightmare to deal such patients without solutions for simple proper treatment.

Also many may condemn me if I share it here as all medical items for public consumption need to go through a thorough long process of acceptability and health safety.  In such prolonged process, many could have perished.

There have been several other options to deal with such dreaded vector virus of the mosquitoes by flogging them in our environment.  How could such flogging be really effective given the massive land mass to be touched and the cost associated with such flogging?  Also, the ingredients in such flogging can be harmful to the health of the public as exposed outdoor and indoor.

I have since very opposed to such flogging as in one instance, I was outside in my house compound exposed to the flogging and the next morning I experienced constipation.

So I had been drinking the simple and cheap herbal item and easily available in seasons annually like a tea.

After sharing this the pharmacies and inventor of the newly found vaccines could be disappointed for the traditional knowledge I had acquired at almost zero costs with the effectiveness I had already shared.

Now, mosquitoes would simply go to my ears in my sleep to wake me up to crash the irritation instantly.  Isn’t it that mosquitoes are also protesting that my blood is poison for them as animals/insects too have great instinct?

I would like to conclude that it is worth sharing my belated experience as to prevent further profligacy in the endless search for cure or remedies for dengue, malaria etc associated with mosquitoes which of sort has some similarity with mosque linguistically.  Some mosques in KK are built on water the bleeding ground of mosquitoes.  Would the mosques be flogged too as some health events demand going into our houses?  We never will know where we get the virus.

In recent years, many times flogging were demanded by the health department and private enterprises.  So would I get more requests or red demands for flogging after this sharing for the benefits of all?

Coincidentally, in the Daily Express the same day, we had two health articles namely “only necessary amount of medicines” and “Review work hours of doctors: MMA”.  So if we have simple solution for dengue etc with the simple herbal drink, the medical and health authorities would be relieved of that burden of an incurable sickness so far.

Joshua Y C Kong  4/6/17