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Dhaka Day by Day

Plague Alarm

by Lavina Ambreen Ahmed
Red alert . The "Black Death" is back again, claiming lives in the neighbouring country. India and spreading waves of panic in other countries as well.
By now. everyone has heard of this highly contagious disease, which poses threats to our normal lives, capturing our thought's and disturbing our peace of mind.
All the major dailies, weeklies and the television have been trying to create public awareness by elucidating the origin, symptoms, treatment and preventive measures for this fatal disease. They have also been giving regular updates on the situation in India.
The government has declared a ban on In&ian food Imports: announced the temporary
bananas and guavas. A young mother was seen scolding her son for wanting those delicious "Cadbury” chocolates. On the other hand, the scene at the cosmetics section does not look too bright either. All the Indian brand names such As "Lakme” and "Godrej" sit forlornly at the racks, while the local brands appear to smile with glee. It never hurts to be over cautious — that appeared to be the motto of a young man. who was sceptical about purchasing an "Archie" card. The shopkeepers dealing in foreign items are complaining that if this paranoia continues for long, they might even go bankrupt. However, one good thing could come out of all this fear: the local products might capture the customers' eyes, at last.
closure of all but seven entry points along the Bangladesh- India border: instructed the screening of incoming passengers and the fu-migatln of all transports coming to Bangladesh from plague-stricken India.
Yet. these are-just the common procedures in dealing with any kind of deadly epidemic. What about the average Bangladesh nationals? How are they reacting to this foreboding news?
Take the market scenario, for example. .The plague fear has changed some peoples' eating habits. Now everybody thinks twice before buying big fish like ruhi. vegetables, onions, eggs, pulse and even sugar.
In their effort to avoid Indian labels, some hypochondriacs even steer clear of the products made elsewhere, fearing that they could come via India, as in the case of a woman In one of the city shops yesterday, who always preferred Bhutanese "Druk" ketchup, and who decided to settle for local "Nahar's" chili sauce, to be on the safe side.
No luscious, succulent fruits are there for us now. Bad luck for the fruit vendors, as the people are even afraid to go near the local
Wherever you go. you will hear people murmuring about pneumonic, bubonic and septicemic plagues. It appears as if six letter words have taken control of your mind. Even grapevine is spreading tumours about how some plague affected people, in Bangladesh, are in hiding. -
Reports show no plague cases in Bangladesh as yet. Yet a person with an ordinary cold is instantly under suspicion. One little sneeze, or cough in public — and you may be sent to Coventry.
While business is bad for all other shopowners. ft ought to be very profitable for say. mouse-traps, rat poison, and pesticide dealers, as many people are taking personal initiative in rodent eradication venture.
This alarm of a disease that wrought havoc in the f4th century is certainly Justified as we all have our fair share of dirt in our health departments — as do our counterparts, on the other side of the borders.
Let us hope that there are no loopholes in the measures taken by the government. For there will be a very dear price to pay for any small slip.