Grand theft Oreo, some seriously scary shit, and something positive for a change...
I heard on the radio the other day that St Croix has twice the number of cases of Dengue fever than the other US Virgin Islands which are having a “a noted increase” in cases...
Scary that.
So is this...
It is funny though. Not so many years ago, there was a blanket censorship of anything related to Dengue because the powers that be felt it kept tourists away. Things were so bad back then that the local hospitals would not see anyone with suspected Dengue because, as a notifiable disease, the official stance was if they don't see it they don't have to report it.
We noticed the same sort of ass-backwards thought process when we lived on St Martin. When French St Martin was having a full blown Dengue epidemic the Dutch side (Sint Maarten) was supposedly Dengue free (which of course it was not).
Which makes for something of a conundrum because it's obvious that you can't really trust the powers that be about such things. Whether they are simply pretending the problem does not exist or downplaying the severity of an outbreak/epidemic you can assume that the real picture is a lot worse than they'll admit. So be very nervous when the powers that be are using phrases like...
“a noted increase".We've both had Dengue... I was lucky. I just felt really, really shitty for a couple of weeks but my better half had a really severe case that laid her low for a month and a half. There is no cure, no vaccine, and when you get it all you can do is ride it out.
It is not something you want to catch so best to keep an ear out on the coconut telegraph and make a point of being elsewhere...
Listening to Streetlight Manifesto
So it goes...
