Dengue facts. fyi.

There are two types of dengue fever. The dengue (DF) and dengue hemorrhagic fever (the latter is the deadlier version) caused by 4 viruses.

When a person is infected, he gains immunity only to that particular variation for life but he can still be infected again with another virus. i.e. you can get dengue more than once. There is good evidence that sequential infection increases the risk of more serious disease resulting in DHF.

The aedes mosquito which spreads the disease is a day-biting one.

Mosquitoes only acquire the virus if they bite after the virus has circulated in the blood of infected humans for two to seven days (ard the time they start having a fever). And even then, the virus would incubate in the mosquito for an additional 8-10 days.

The symptoms of dengue include the abrupt onset of high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains and rash. The Dengue haemorrhagic fever will have high fever, sometimes with the enlargement of liver and if severe, circulatory failure.

There is no vaccine for dengue yet.

Bananas and wine.

What's common about the two of them?

You know, when you eat bananas then there is this taste in your mouth? Apparently this taste can also be found in certain wines.

The chinese call the taste 'siap-siap'. For a long time I have always assumed that there is no equivalent term in english but lo and behold. There is such a term!!

A quick google search on wine appreciation is all it takes to find out. The word to describe that taste is 'astringent'.

Main Entry: ¹as·trin·gent
Pronunciation: &-'strin-j&nt
Function: adjective
: having the property of drawing together the soft organic tissues <astringent cosmetic lotions>: a : tending to shrink mucous membranes or raw or exposed tissues : checking discharge (as of serum or mucus) : STYPTIC b : tending to pucker the tissues of the mouth <astringent fruits and wines> —as·trin·gen·cy /-j&n-sE/ noun plural -cies

So next time you wanna describe the taste of bananas, instead of saying 'that banana very siap-siap' you act sophisticated and say 'that M. acuminata taste astringent.' ^^

Btw, any malays willing to tell me what astringent means in malay?

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