But of course, the REAL question is: Which public enemy is worse, the obnoxious little fellow above, or the person who provides a place for it to breed? We are dealing with the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is found throughout Panama and most of the tropical and subtropical world. At the moment these insects harass the Panamanian people as vectors of a week-long misery called Dengue Fever, which both as a nuisance and a potential killer has much in common with the flu. But put the yellow fever virus into the population and the Aedes aegypti will spread it from person to person, causing a deadly epidemic. What Osama bin Laden did to the American people on September 11, 2001 was minor league stuff compared to what the Aedes aegpti did to the Panamanian people in the late 19th century.

These insects don't breed in swamps like the Anopheles mosquitoes that carry malaria. They prefer tiny little pools of clear water, like the rainwater that gets trapped in trash, old tires and junk cars. That's why the Aedes aegypti and the dengue that it carries is more common in Panama's urban areas than in the countryside, and why the worst parts of the Interior are near the Pan-American Highway, where uncultured slobs of all income and educational levels throw trash.

The rains that signal dry season's end have already made their first appearance and the mosquitoes are making their first sorties of the year. Public health inspectors, who issue tickets to people who create or maintain breeding conditions for the mosquitoes, won't be far behind.

The top photo is from the Atlas de Parasitologia, and the bottom one, taken adjacent to the University of Panama, is by Eric Jackson

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