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Published: July 14th 2007
My apologies for the break in posting! (And Will, there is internet in the hotel, and even a cable in my room, but my stupid Mac won't assign an IP address so I can't log on in my room -- if anyone has advice on this I'd love to hear it!)
Thursday we had a full day at the center. It's been pointed out to me that not everyone who's reading this knows why I'm here! I'm hesitant to give too many details on a public website, but the short of it is, there is this very nasty virus that is carried by the flying fox (those really really really big fruit bats) populations, and over the past 5 or so years it has caused several outbreaks in the human population. This virus doesn't make the bats sick at all, but it causes encephalitis in humans with a very high mortality rate. My advisor for the summer is working on a long term monitoring project of the level of the virus in the bat population in conjunction with a major public health NGO here in Dhaka which has been tracking the epidemiology of the human outbreaks. I'm here to learn the bat catching and bleeding techniques, to get exposed to international public health work, and to do my own project which has become a really big deal!
My own project is trying to determine if eating fruit that may already have been bitten by bats could be one of the routes that the virus is passing from bats to humans. This has really become a huge project, and people from the center have been assigned to work on it with me. There are several anthropologists working on the survey and we will take two field officers with us to help conduct it! It's really kind of overwhelming, I didn't anticipate that it would become such a big deal. But of course it's incredible promising that they are so interested in and willing to help me on this. If it works out this summer, this will in effect become a pilot study for something more long-term. Very exciting!
So, thursday (my birthday) we spent the whole day working on various aspects of the project. We had to go to the forestry deparment to get permits again and apply for the CITES permit (what you need to take samples from endagered or threatened species out of the country). The minister of the forestry department was recently taken to jail when there was a coup and change in the government, he'd been selling land to people he wasn't supposed to.... or something... Luckily though, there are still people there that the team has worked with in the past and so it wasn't an issue. It is really fascinating visiting these places, there are no computers at all! And there are whole rooms dedicated to paper records. We take computers for granted.
We then worked for the rest of the day on my survey and project. Again, I am so excited that it's turning into a legitimate project! I also have to say how amazed I've been at the warmth and friendliness of everyone here, they are very very welcoming!
Unfortunately, that night I was hit with a terrible bout of vomiting and diarrhea, that lasted most of the night, and started up again the next day. Nice way to spend your birthday.... 😊 Later that night we were invited to dinner at the house of an American physician who has been working here for several years and who is very well known in the field of international public health. He lives in an amazing house with a cook, guards, housekeepers, etc... He's brought his family over, he has college-aged children. I am always fascinated about what its like to raise American children in such a foreign land! It was a great evening, only I couldn't hold down any of the rice and bread I ate... so annoying this gastroenteritis business is! Of course the place we are working at is a center for diarrhea expertise (they invented oral rehydration salts!), and we are working with two diarrhea expert physicians (this man we had dinner with and another man on the team), so I figure I'm in good hands.... 😊 It was inevitable to have some GI issues in Bangladesh, I'm only a little ashamed I only lasted 2 days!!!
Today we are field testing my survey, but we've spent all morning making the revisions we discussed on thursday and I didn't change yesterday. It's rather complicated since we have both English and Bangla versions, and I am of course, completely helpless when it comes to a lot of the work! Everyone else is getting lunch, which I am still unable to participate in... After that we'll head to fruit markets and practice our survey. I'm really hoping I can then go to bed early tonight!!
We'll head to the field on Monday, once I'm there I will have no email access, but my cell phone should be functional everywhere. Again, let me know if you want the number.
We'll be in the field for two weeks or so, back here in Dhaka for only a day (I can email then) and then we'll be back in the field for two more weeks.
Hope all is well with you all!
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Mom
non-member comment
Miranda, thanks for all the facts - I'm sure you've told me lots of times, but you know what my short-term memory is like - just like that dude in that great movie, with the title I can't remember.. ANyway, glad you're working on a high-exposure project with experts involved, future interest etc. Makes it all so worhtwhile to be doing something potentially very valuable. Lucky you. I'll try not to continue to be deterrred by the emphasis on diarrhea (although I'm glad to hear the rehydration salts are oral) and I hope you personally don't ahve any recurrence - take care of yourslef - stay hydrated - ahve I told you that before?? all my love, Mom