Dengue Fever, Dang' it

NEW DELHI (AP) -- The crisis-plagued Commonwealth Games took another hit [last] Sunday when an Indian team official who had been living at the athletes' village was diagnosed with dengue fever.


[SOURCE]

Dengue fever, a painful illness that can be life-threatening, spreads through mosquito bites. It has become an issue in the Indian capital this year because of the extended monsoon season, which increased the amount of stagnant water around the city.

About 3,500 cases of dengue fever have been reported in New Delhi this year, and seven of those afflicted have died, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Ruptu Gogoi, a 30-year-old official with the lawn bowls team, was admitted to the GB Pant hospital in New Delhi on Saturday night and was diagnosed with the disease Sunday - the day of the opening ceremony. He is the first person affiliated with the games to contract the illness.

It was not immediately clear if Gogoi contracted the disease at the village or before moving in.

The Monkeys do Delhi

Animal Kingdom Rises Up
by Pat Darnell

Monkeys are common pedestrians in Delhi. Unfortunately, Delhi is hosting the Commonwealth Games this season.

"Because they are large and fierce, langurs are often used in India to keep other monkeys in check in public places ..." and ... "We have deployed 38 langurs and it is a very effective way to scare away the common monkeys," NDMC spokesman Anand Tiwari told Reuters.

"We take these langurs on rent. Their trainers accompany them and once the assignment is over, they return home." Gray langurs feed on leaves, fruit, buds and flowers.**

"In 2007, the deputy mayor of New Delhi was killed when he fell from his balcony during an attack by wild monkeys, while 25 other people were wounded when a monkey went on a rampage in the city. [SOURCE]

These Old World primates, with tails longer than their bodies, apparently benefit others with their langurs' good eyesight and ability to post a lookout in a treetop, helping to raise the alarm when a predator approaches.

We at MooPig's PHOTO Analysis Department like the looks of the langurs in this picture; one might ask 'Who is holding who on a chain?' We all wish we could be there.

Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi Grounds is like a staging area for Noah's Ark:

" ... The 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games, only the second to be held is Asia after Kuala Lumpur in 1998, has also seen its share of other animal-related issues, among other more serious problems already facing organizers. Besides the stray dogs that run rampant on the streets, a 4-foot cobra was found at the tennis venue and another snake was caught in a room at the athletes' village.
Sacred cows also roam unimpeded in the capital city.
Rats are also major concern but the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is utilizing 600 traps to clear the venues of rodents.
Delhi is also reeling under a dengue fever outbreak with more than 3,000 cases reported so far this year.
Stagnant pools at some of the Games venues were found breeding mosquitoes and the organizers released mosquito-eating fish in the water at the Games Village. [ibid]

If that doesn't spark some foreboding --

"There is a high risk of terrorist attack in New Delhi," the department said on its website. "Since 2000, there have been at least 14 major terrorist attacks in New Delhi on locations such as markets, train stations and other public places. These attacks have caused hundreds of deaths and injuries." [ibid]

**Tag:
Trained Langur monkeys are being deployed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games to scare off other smaller species of monkeys in the games compound due to their larger stature and aggressive nature. [SOURCE]

Here's how we Spin the Delhi Commonwealth Games Story

MooPig Contention and Cookies of Parody, by Pat Darnell

The whole 9\11-terrorist-like planned attack on infrastructure is the work attributed to this implicated, half-insect, ... half-human creature who orchestrated the entire catastrophe. What should have been the Delhi Commonwealth Games is now a tragedy.

"I'm trying to remain eternally optimistic. But at some point we will reach the point of no return and that is when we will have to decide."

The sense of impending crisis was exacerbated when a section of the ceiling in the weightlifting arena fell down amid growing fears over rising flood waters near the athletes' village, which had already been condemned by team officials as "filthy" and "unfit for human occupation".

With the Games at risk of descending into farce, thousands of athletes from the major competing nations remained in the dark about whether or not they would be boarding a plane to compete.

When asked 'Why he did it?' Mahmoud Admadinejad said "I could sure use a shave." That is when most every top notch athlete and his delegates got up and walked out of the room...

The beleaguered Delhi chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, played down the problems and accused the media of damaging India's image. "Something may be dripping, some tile may collapse, doesn't mean the entire Games are bad," she told reporters. [LINK]

It is now known that the accident on Tuesday, in which 27 were injured when a bridge connecting the athletes' carpark to the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium collapsed, was caused when a metal pin worked loose detaching the main structure from its suspension cables.

Five workers remained in a critical condition, several with serious spinal injuries. Most of the injured were contracted labourers from poor rural areas. Campaigners say dozens of workers have been killed and hundreds injured in a succession of accidents at Games venues.

Insect-Man, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, might have said Friday 'the UN should investigate the "true reason" for the "bridge collapse" attacks' as he defended a speech which implicated the US government in the atrocity.


"I did not pass a judgement, I simply made proposals for a humane solution to the problems that have risen as a result of Rugby players who eat their dead," Ahmadinejad told a press conference. [LINK]

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NEXT on the SPIN List :: Colleen Long, The Associated Press | [SOURCE]

NEW YORK, N.Y. - Sudanese diplomats scuffled with security workers at the hotel where the Iran delegation is staying during the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting, police said Friday.