MY son, who was visiting us from Britain, came down with dengue fever in July and was admitted to Assunta Hospital from July 26 to 29.

On Oct 5, I developed high fever and, on Oct 9, was admitted to the same hospital for dengue fever. I was discharged on Oct 16.

My wife and I live in Section 12, Shah Alam. We are bordered on one side by an unoccupied house with an abandoned compound overgrown with grass and untended fruit trees and the other by an undeveloped plot of land completely given over to jungle.

On the third side is a park and on the fourth side the road. We have a worrying mosquito infestation. We also see snakes (cobras) and shrews.

I have written to the Shah Alam City Council three times requesting it to check and fog the area but there was no response.
On Nov 3, I visited the council's health department and was referred to the section in charge of fogging.

I spoke to two officers and gave them a copy of my last letter. They said they had no information about my family's dengue infections but promised to check the records. I asked them to fog the area anyway, which they assured me would be done.

I checked with the hospital and they confirmed that they had followed the established reporting procedure for dengue by advising the Petaling district health office on July 26 for my son and Oct 11 for me.

Despite this and the assurances I received from the council staff, no one has fogged my area. In the meantime, it looks like there will be another dengue infection soon.

The scourge of dengue and other vector-borne diseases, as well as other pests, continue to threaten our health and peace of mind.

What is preventing the authorities from doing their job? And what is the point in waiting to carry out vector-control activities until after the residents have been infected?