Those Pesky Mosquitos

This is the fourth trip our parish is making to Peru.  The airport is in Piura, which is about 40 miles from Paita. Our team must travel to Paita via a rented bus and there could be a chance of coming in contact with mosquitoes.

Even though we've seen only one mosquito on one trip. We need to be careful because there was an outbreak of dengue a few years ago and now there's concerns about the Zika virus.

Do the people of Piura see mosquitos? Most definitely because they live next to the large river. This is an agricultural community requiring irrigation. Their summer and rainy season is December through April.  During this time, they get approximately six inches of rain. We have been told that the city has taken action by spraying an insecticide throughout the community to help eliminate the mosquitos. We will use precautions by spraying our clothing with a Deet product.

It is an El Niño year in Peru. The temperatures are warmer and they have gotten more rain. FYI, the ocean is warmer, creating havoc for the cool water fish, usually found off the Peruvian coast. Now that the coastal waters are 4 to 8 degrees warmer, these fish are now swimming further out into the ocean, out of range of most fishermen's boats. More people are probably unemployed due to this problem. We'll save this problem for another blog!!!

The 2016 medical team will be traveling to Peru in June, 2016. They will be kept abreast of these diseases by checking with WHO (World Health Organization).

Here's an article describing the current mosquito problem in Peru.

http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-zika-officially-confirmed-in-peru-109456