I felt when it happened. I looked only too late, the area already enlarged, and in the centre a bright red spot of blood. A mosquito had bitten me. I studied the bright red dot and wondered was there any dengue in there? The culprit had long gone, so I couldn't inspect it to see if it was an Aedes aegypti mosquito or just a garden variety, but it was day time, so I've just been waiting for the fever!

Yes the old Aedes aegypti is a domestic, day-biting mosquito that prefers to feed on humans. Pictures of it suggest it is sort of brown with white spots/stripes. So now not only will I settle down with my zapper tennis bat that satisfies all my sadistic tendencies as I see the beloved spark, and listen to the electrical wiz as the little brute fries, I will have to add to my arsenal, a magnifying glass to determine species!

Virus stereotypes

Dengue is caused by four closely related but distinct virus stereotypes, infection of one stereotype provides you with immunity for life from that particular virus, so the good news is that you can only get dengue four times in your lifetime. The bad news is, according the Center for Disease Control, the worst strain of dengue has a fatality rate of five per cent. Infections produce a spectrum of illnesses from clinical illnesses ranging from a non-specific viral syndrome to severe and fatal haemorrhagic disease. The latter almost resembles the Ebola Virus with bleeding from your eyes and other such inconveniences.

So let me to be the first to declare the honeymoon is over. We welcome our new administration, and we congratulate our mayor on his new post in the Senate, but Hurricane Dean hit Jamaica over six weeks ago and election or no election, it is time to clean this place up. Mayor McKenzie has proven himself as a man who gets whatever he puts his mind to. I'm sure the recent success of the JLP is an added testament to this, but election is won and we need our mayor back. Kingston is showing signs of cost cuts, but there must be a basic level of service that is not compromised. Surely solid waste collection is one of those, especially when there are health threats such as dengue and now malaria.

There are still areas on our streets that have not been cleared, a fact that has not been helped by opportunistic residents who did their annual tree pruning and dumped the cuttings on the side of the road, making Dean seem worse than necessary. Surely these residents should be penalised and steps taken against them littering the streets. There have been several commendable private sector initiatives in Kingston and MoBay to make up for the shortfall of the local government, but imagine if these efforts could be concentrated on building business and not encumbered with the job of cleaning streets.

Hurricane Dean was only the straw that broke the camel's back. My garbage used to be collected twice a week, now it is only collected once a week. I have seen a 50 per cent reduction in service but no commensurate reduction in property taxes. Now to add to the joys of being knee high in garbage each week I have to worry about the stripy killer mosquito breeding out of control.

As our city strives to become internationally competitive, attract investment and to provide an environment conducive to productivity and growth our local government must set some basic standards that they will not retreat from, an environment that we can depend on and thrive in. Jamaicans want a civilised society and quality of life that does not include walking around with a bat trying to electrocute life-threatening mosquitoes. Still no fever, but I sure see a headache coming!

Tara Clivio is a freelance journalist