5th Day in Sik..

The first thought I had when I woke up today was finally a week has passed since we were posted in Sik. Travelling to and fro everyday is taking a toll on our level of alertness but that does not stop our never-ending questions and fun. Our day started with a small session with Mr Jamil from disease control division as a continuance from our previous meeting yesterday. After that he introduced us to Mr Mohd Akhir from vector borne disease unit who proceeded to talk to us about the dengue situation in Sik. According to him, Sik is one of the critical district in dengue and chikungunya outbreak and both diseases are spread by the Aedes mosquitoes. Two new names wormed their way into our brain today as we were shown the model of Aedes aegypti, which acts as a vector for dengue virus and Aedes albopictus who carries the chikungunya virus.

Take a wild guess as to which is Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. =)

We learned the miniscule difference between the two mosquitoes which is oni apparent when one were to observe the body clearly. Imagine when you see a mosquito with striped legs on your body and all you are trying to do is to observe the body and see if its one line or four lines and wonder which virus it might carry! As seen above aedes aegypti has 4 stripes while aedes albopictus has one. Mr Mohd Akhir also briefed us on their habitats and the symptoms seen in each disease. His wit, sense of humour and overall pleasant personality kept us glued to his every word for an hour or so.

We were very interested in the night trapping activity that went on the other day so he explained in detail how it was done. It seems that his team has to sit quietly in the jungle from 7 pm til 11 pm and expose their thighs, make no noise, no smoke and everything else that might scare the mosquitoes away. When mosquitoes bite them, they will trap them in bottles and send them to the laboratory for further investigations on the species and etc. However, this week's outing was not fruitful and they came back empty-handed. I guess this is a blessing in disguise as this shows that the control measures taken to reduce the population of mosquitoes in that particular area are working very well. His unit also performs Aedes survey whereby they go to houses of the people who are suspected or confirmed to have dengue fever and check the inside and surroundings of the house for mosquito larva. Compound would be issued to the house owner if such larva are found.

Sample of mosquito larvae found during Aedes survey

Poison for larva - to be put in places where there is collection of water

As usual, our group photo after a briefing. Well, with the addition of two mosquitoes as the temporary members of the group.

After the dengue briefing, Mr Mohd Akhir (not the previous health officer) and Mr Ramachandran came in to talk to us about malaria and filariasis. They are also kind enough to show us how to perform BFMP and our ever outgoing group leader decided to donate his blood again for the demonstration. They promised to allow us to try and perform BFMP next week in a secondary school and record all the data. Imagine our excitement when we heard that! Later, we were brought to the vector control unit store to take a look at the spraying device used to spray walls of houses. It sounds funny and outrageous at first to hear that mosquitoes will perch on walls of houses after sucking our blood because they are too full and heavy to fly far.

Materials needed in preparing the BFMP
In the process...

Right after the blood are "dotted" onto the slide..

Finally, a completed blood film.
The spraying device

Ramu demonstrating the way to hold the spraying device

The poison used

Mr Mohd Akhir and Mr Ramachandran in vector control unit store and the various equipments and poisons stored in it.

After that we had lunch at a Malay stall opposite the District Health Office and it was yummy!! We were all complimenting the various nasi goreng and maggi goreng served. With our full and satisfied stomach, we went to the vector control unit to learn a little about Vekpro, a surveillance method used for dengue and also learnt about mapping of an outbreak. Our official activities end for the day and thus begins the fun.

We explored Sik and found a waterfall after going the wrong way up until we reach the border of Baling, the neighbouring town under the lead of Ramu who insisted its a good adventure! Changing our formal clothes into tshirts and shorts, we had a great time splashing water and having "water massage" by the cascading waterfall. A few of us have some funny moments because of the slippery algae all over most of the rocks and overall, its a good way to unwind after a whole week of eye-opening learning experience in Sik. We then proceeded to have our dinner in SP and for this week we decided to go for Indian food and was introduced to some of the delicacies served there.

With a week of new experience and stronger bond of friendship between our group members, we are psyched and looking forward to the promises of new and exciting learning opportunities ahead!