Seng Triumfetta rhom Boidea Tiliaceae fever during menstruation whole plant Phlai Zingiber cassumunar Zingiberaceae bruises of internal organs whole plant Drug abuse is a problem among divers. When they want to dive deeper than the limits their ears can normally tolerate, they take analgesics. They claim that they do not then experience pain in their ears during deep dives. This type of drug abuse is extremely dangerous to their ears, with damage varying from impaired hearing to total deafness. Types of Illnesses Reported Villagers were asked to report illnesses they had experienced.
Malaria is a preventable and usually curable parasitic disease.
A full course of drug treatment will usually eliminate the parasites and cure the disease. Patients in the two villages treat themselves symptomatically and inadequately. This practice is hazardous not only to their own health but also to others, since the Plasmodium organism will ultimately develop resistance to treatment if effective drugs are taken only sporadically. Consequently the inadequately treated patient will harbour resistant strains of malarial parasites that are much more difficult to destroy, and these resistant parasites may eventually spread throughout the community. The occurrence of these two diseases in Ko Lao suggests either that the vaccination programme has failed or that there is a lack of cooperation of the parents, or both.