Predicted high tides this weekend have caused thousands of Bangkok residents to evacuate the city for drier ground after the government announced an official five-day holiday. Three months of unusually heavy rains have left 381 dead and 110,000 displaced. An estimated 4.6 to 16 billion dollars in property destruction has also been wrought in areas of northern and central Thailand.

Although the major commercial areas of Bangkok have remained less affected, some residential areas are heavily submerged. On Sunday, water levels were expected to reach 2.6meters, or over 8 feet. Despite the destruction, many breathe a sigh of relief knowing that the economic core of Bangkok, and major world producer of computer hard disk drives, is still intact.

However, Bangkok officials are hesitant to admit victory over the deluge when flood waters offer an ideal breeding ground for diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. Clean drinking water has also become limited, and many international governments are issuing travel advisory statements.

Some residents outside of major cities have become cut off from relief efforts and supplies. UNICEF is providing thousands of mosquito nets to limit the spread of disease, and the Red Cross is donating bottled water and relief kits.

The Washington Post notes the vast environmental differences concerning flooded and dry sections of Bangkok, home to over 9 million people.

“The desperate images of disaster contrast sharply with scenes of total normality — from night-owls drinking cocktails in red-light districts to tourists enjoying relaxing foot massages in faux-leather chairs downtown.”

CNN.com reports, “Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged stores not to stockpile goods, amid concerns that panic buying was leading to a shortage of essential items.” The government warns citizens that although they are trying to speed the process of draining flood water into canals and the sea, it may take over a month for water levels to return to normal.

This method of coping has not left everyone satisfied. Frustrated by the lack of concrete information being dispersed by the government, filmmaker Kriangkrai Vachiratamtorn created a viral animation that explains why the floodwaters are particularly high this year.

Vachiratamtorn likens the floodwaters to a pod of 50 million whales trying to make their way through Bangkok to the Gulf of Thailand. The video series has already seen over 700,000 hits and can be watched with English subtitles at: http://www.youtube.com/user/roosuflood#p/u/4/b8zAAEDGQPM

WitthayaP / Shutterstock.com

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A new study from Senegal has experts worried about the spread of malaria through mosquitoes. The study has shown that mosquitoes can form a resistance to the insecticide used in mosquito nets.

Researchers studied the Senegalese village of Dielmo, over a span of years from 2007 to 2010. This documented the Malaria morbidity both before and after the 2008 distribution of long-lasting insecticide bed nets, a leading method in preventing malaria. Though some experts say the study was too small to draw conclusions, but the findings are troubling.

The study shows that mosquitoes may be forming a resistance to the insecticide. While just three weeks after the net introduction, there was a short-term decline in malaria attacks, the proportion of mosquitoes genetically resistant to a type of pesticide rose from 8 percent to 48 percent.

In 2010, the pesticide Deltamethrin, which is recommended by the World Health Organization for bed nets, was genetically resisted by 37 percent of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, the principal vectors for malaria in Africa.

This led to a raise in malaria attacks back to high levels, for the last few months of the 2010 study period. In fact, the rate of attacks was even higher amongst older children and adults than it was before the bed net introduction. According to the study, this is possibly related to a reduced immunity among these age groups.

According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2008 there were an estimated 190 to 311 million cases of malaria worldwide, causing 708,000 to 1,003,000 deaths. Most of these deaths occurred in young children from sub-Saharan Africa.

“Strategies to address the problem of insecticide resistance and to mitigate its effects must be urgently defined and implemented,” said the researchers in study.

Image Courtesy of  http://www.flickr.com/photos/gatesfoundation/

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