Why my drive against mosquitoes? Cause they can cause death. This is a true incident that I had mentioned a year back in my review on WebMD.com.
It was a tragic, sudden death for our office colleague. A 38 year old, jovial and healthy person, suddenly started feeling low and weak, followed by high temperature. Dismissing it as normal flu, he had ’’paracetimol’’. He felt better after that and resumed office. 2 days later his condition looked worse and we forced him to go home. He was admitted to hospital the same day. Soon enough his liver and lungs failed and he was shifted under artificial respirator to a better hospital - Leelavati at Bandra, Mumbai, India. His body was failing despite several efforts by doctors. His kidney failed. He expired to our disbelief, within 2 weeks. The culprit - falciparum protozoan passed through a mosquito causing cerebral malaria - fatal almost always.
Malaria causes epidemics and records several million death cases per year. There are types like Vivax, Malariae and Falciparum, which is actually the names of Plasmodium that the Anopheles mosquito injects into our system. These wretches dwell first in the liver then spreads in bloodstream and penetrate the erythrocytes where they grow and mature and burst out of the blood cells. The victim shivers with high fever, which stops and then after a few weeks starts all over again - Malaria relapses. Of course, it can be cured, provided that it is detected early - the most common medicine known by the name quinine. But that is the trickiest part. These protozoa may already be multiplying in the liver and the victim may be hale and hearty, completely unaware. Also the fever stays for a two-three days and goes away, so we tend to dismiss it as a normal fever. So the best solution - keep mosquitoes away
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PART C: The Magical Mat
This came as the best solution against mosquitoes that was several times safer than the Baygon Spray, easy to use and effective. Almost every player in the market have come out with mosquito mats - Casper, Mortein (with Eucalyptus), Jet, Odomos etc. The Eucalyptus one had nice Nilgiri like smell, Casper mats are colorful with floral fragrance, but while I have tried out all of them, I find myself returning to the most effective of them all - the powermat from Goodnight
«« THE COMPANY »»
Godrej Saralee Ltd. I am sure that name has weight enough to put all other doubts to rest.
«« THE BASE »»
This is where the mats are inserted. Goodnight does have its own such base but basically the mats can be fixed on any such base as they are normally of standard size. Of course not necessary though as some bases have some kind of slot arrangement that may not house any other mat.
Goodnight bases are a bit expensive at around Rs 65. However the base comes with a long chord and hence can be positioned anywhere, even center of the room. Plugable modules are available at a slightly cheaper price Rs. 25 to Rs 35. The disadvantage is that often power points are located at some corner of the room and hence the action may not be sufficient.
«« THE MAT »»
The standard pack of mats contains 30 pieces and costs around 50 Rs. The packing is an unmistakable red color pack that shows a mother and child cuddled together and enjoying sound sleep. A wonderful theme - sound sleep is what we all would love and so rightly does it wish us all Goodnight.
The mats are blue in color and are enclosed in another packing that preserves its ’’effect’’. The main composition is prallethrin (no surprises here) but it is 1.2 % out here. What does it mean? Gosh! The mosquitoes and other such flying creeps get paralyzed. Hah! I just love it. And no, I wouldn’t keep my windows open and allow them to get out. I like to see them dead.
Now another important thing is that the Goodnight Power Mat lasts 12 hours. Wow!
The blue color fades away on the top surface (not in contact with the heating element) as the mat gets heated. But then often at evenings I reverse this mat and reuse it. Believe me, it’s effective even then. Unlike other Goodnight users on MS, I haven’t tried burning these mats.
One another thing is that the mat smells good when it in use, though you can smell it only in the initial hours. I am not sure whether the smell fades away later or we get used to it that we can no longer smell it.
«« OVERALL»»
When it comes to mosquito mats, nothing beats Goodnight Power Mats. I highly recommend it for those who want to enjoy sound sleep and keep mosquitoes away. So Goodnight folks!