Yellow Fever Vaccination – Mumbai



List of countrieds for which the Indian Government
has mandated yellow fever Vaccine 

Yellow fever is a viral infection spread by mosquitoes. It is caused by a virus carried by mosquitoes. You can catch this disease if you are bitten by a mosquito infected with this virus. 

This disease is common in South America and in sub-Saharan Africa.

Anyone can get yellow fever, but the elderly have a higher risk of severe infection.

If a person is bitten by an infected mosquito, symptoms usually develop 3 - 6 days later.

Prevention is the mantra, so you need to get the vaccine before you travel to the countries with the risk of yellow fever (refer pic above)

 

Signpost at the Cross Road



I am sharing my experience here, which is a snapshot in time. Encourage you to check and verify for changes. This article is not an advisory.

Mandatory stuff first

1.       This vaccine is a must to go to countries listed in the picture alongside

2.       You need to carry your ticket and passport

3.       Needs to be taken 10 days in advance of travel

Airport Health Organisation

It is tucked away near the Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, as you drive straight from the Leela Hotel, it forks at the end of the road if you turn left it would lead you to the airport. Don't enter the airport, instead watch out for the signpost at the cross roads and follow it to reach the Airport Health Organisation (AHO). As you are driving through you should be able to view the building.

It’s a time consuming process, takes nearly half a day. It is important you reach early since the number of injections is capped at 70 numbers. A unique twist is that these vaccines come in vials of 5 so if the numbers at the end exceed a multiple of 5 they need to return again.

Long hours of waiting can be a challenge so diabetics ensure that you carry food and water. People who can’t stand for a long time, please bring along you seating arrangements. Waiting can be a challenge in case you need to handle small kids.

Administration Procedure

One has to go in quite early, it is better to reach there between 7 and 8 am (registration closes at 11:30, you can take a chance till then). Once you reach there, you or the others need to do one very important activity and that is to ensure that people write their names, as they arrive (it is not a registration). This is because people cannot maintain a queue for a very long time. The wait period outside the gate is from the time you arrive to about 09:30. Chaiwala will come it at around 08:30 and sell you chai around 09:00.

Around 09:15 a guard arrives and asks a que to be formed based on the name list. Then people are marched inside and asked to site on a small parapet wall within the compound wall of the building. It mostly would get filled up by ladies and the men need to stand.

At 10:00 am you will be led in to the main building for the registration which will close at 11:30, wherein you will be made to sit in the order of the names listed on the sheet. Then each one is called with his ticket and given a token number. Post this exercise everybody is asked to go and come back at 11:30. This is when you can go one stair up and buy your Bajji Pav, it was quite alright. A hot cup of chai post the spicy hot bajji pav was good.

Then you come back at 11:30 and then sit according to the token number in the ground floor. At about 12:00 the first batch of people are ushered in to the first floor. Once there you will be given the yellow card (not sure if they wanted to give a visual que to the yellow fever through the card), which needs to be filled up by you. And then each one is called as per the serial number wherein you walk to the counter and give them your yellow card, passport and Rs 300/-. After this people are sent in batches of 5 for the injection. Once you get injected, you can take your passport and signed copy of the yellow card (they also put in a batch number of the vaccine). Now the process is complete, you watch may be reading 13:00 hrs by now. Never the less one task out of the way for the next 10 years.

Save Powai Lake - Eichornial Infestation

He banged the table and said with all his confidence Powai Lake is a Natural Lake and it is a Salt water lake. That response left the rest of us, on the lunch table, a bit perplexed as to the source of his information but never the less that does not change the facts about the Powai Lake. The fresh water lake is a colonial legacy, built by the British.

It still stands serene, I especially enjoy the morning sunrise setting on the Powai lake in winter. The newly built foot over bridge could probably give an elevated perspective to the sunrise. The Powai Lake has gone through many stages of water quality degradation. The lake water which used to supply drinking water for Mumbai has been declared unfit to drink.

The lake in itself is a blessing and a key natural differentiator for the Powai area. The Powai Lake influences the microclimate of Powai Area, typically the influences exerted by water bodies in the location where they exist. A key component of the local drainage system, the monsoonal rain waters of Powai and the adjoining areas drain into the lake. The lake still remains a tourist attraction, thanks to the recently rejuvenation efforts by the government and the intervention of the interested local populace.

Eichornia - Lake Powai



I recently took a picture of the lake and observed that there is a green invasion on the lake, not the Martians; it is the weed Eichornia or Water Hyacinth pervading the lake. Water hyacinth is a free-floating perennial plant, it is one of the fastest growing plants known.

The plant in itself is not bad in fact it can be used beneficially to treat waste water but, if their grown is not checked they can choke the life out of the water body, primarily through expedited evapo-transpiration and eutrophication. These plants cover the water’s surface in a mat-like sheet and restrict sunlight that underwater plants need for growth.  Eventually this underwater vegetation dies and decays depleting dissolved oxygen in the water, which is needed for underwater life.  Water hyacinth provides prime habitat for disease vectors such as mosquitoes.

Interestingly it reminds me of the kingly tales such as the one which gave the ancient name Bendakaluru to modern Bengaluru i.e., to invade the enemy by surrounding the periphery. That is exactly what the Eichornia is doing to the Powai Lake or for that matter any lake it invades. Once in the water body the Eichornial infestation can double in size in a few weeks.

Water hyacinth has been used successfully in wastewater treatment systems to improve the quality of water by reducing the levels of organic and inorganic nutrients. It is known to absorb and translocate cadmium, lead, copper, zinc, and nickel. Based on this unique property water hyacinth can be used for developing cost effective and environmentally friendly technologies for the remediation of soils and wastewaters polluted with toxic substances (Heavy Metal Phytoremediation).

The plant is quite an useful one, however their collective sheet over a water body is detrimental to the water body as well as the humans and animals that depend on it. The common methods of control include physical removal of the plant, using herbicides etc. Biological control (bio control) can be very effective however it brings in the issue of introducing alien species. Two agents, a weevil, Neochetina eichhorniae, and a moth, Niphograpta albiguttalis, are known to be effective elsewhere in the world. The tunnelling larvae of these insects achieved good control. There may be other bio control agents available.

The lake has to be preserved, it impacts the life in Powai in many ways directly and indirectly. Lets not kill the preserver, by turning a blind eye to the Eichornial Invasion. Save the Powai Lake prevent the pervasion of the lake.