Following extremely long and heavy rain this summer, it
sounded as disappointing news for the people who had been denying theory of
climate change. Tokyo Metropolitan Government closed Yoyogi Park, a city park
with 130 acres, due to a great outbreak of mosquitoes with dengue virus for the
first time in its forty-seven-year history. Although the government has been
investigating how the virus was brought, there is no conclusion on it. The
number of the patients of dengue fever is increasing day after day in all over
Japan and most of them are visitors of the park. Is it going to be an epidemic
of Japan?
Dengue fever is an infectious disease mainly found in warm
area like Southeast Asia, South Asia or Middle and South America. Vehicle of
the virus is commonly mosquito. The symptom includes high fever and pain of
joint, but not all of infected people suffer from pains. The virus is not
transferred directly from a human to another, but infection happens when a
mosquito that pricked an infected human pricks another. Vaccine or medicine for
the disease has not been discovered yet.
Most patients of dengue fever in Japan visited Yoyogi Park
in August. One patient in Tokyo realized the symptom in August 12th,
eight days after she visited the park. According to Ministry of Health, Labor
and Welfare, the number of patients rose up to fifty-five on Thursday.
Receiving information of patients, Tokyo Metropolitan
Government researched in the park late August, finding no mosquito with dengue
virus. So, it did not take a measure of closing the park, causing criticisms
now. When it reinvestigated the park in early September, a number of infected
mosquitoes were trapped in broad area. The government reluctantly decided to
close the park.
Experts suppose that a great number of infected mosquitoes
are living in the park. The most likely story is that someone who traveled
Southeastern Asia, or visitors from the region, were pricked by mosquito in the
park. But if there was only one carrier, he or she must have pricked so many
times. Explanation of experts does not completely explain why hundreds of
mosquitoes were infected by the virus.
The park is known as a place of international cultural
events. Japan-Indonesia Citizen Friendship Festival in 6th and 7th
of September was cancelled due to the infectious problem. Joggers and walkers
need to find somewhere else in Tokyo. Thirty homeless people also have to move
to other places, risking dissemination of the virus outside the park.
As long as seeing insufficient investigation of bureaucracy,
it is unrealistic that the virus will be contained in Yoyogi Park. The
government needs to take every effort to discover effective vaccine, rather
than closing infected area. It is better for the people to think this
phenomenon stemmed from climate change than attributing to someone who brought
the virus.
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