safety

[NeilandSylvia]

Hello Tom,
Thanks for letting me know about the reaction you are fighting right now. I hope that you do feel much better soon...
I am a person that is attacked by mosquitoes more then most people around me. I happen to have gone to the Public Health Office today for my travel shots. The Nurse did talk about Dengue or "Break bone" as it is called from the intense muscle and joint pain you get. It
usually starts within 3-15 days after being infected. It is now the #1 acute infection above malaria and yellow fever from travels to the Caribbean and south America. Not all bugs carry it but some do.
I am adding a blurb from the info you sent.
***The main point is, there is no vaccine available and the best defence is to kill the mosquito population ( which is almost impossible) SO USE DEET for 2 hours at sunrise and 2 hours at sunset for your best protection...***
Neil


How can dengue fever be prevented

The transmission of the virus to mosquitoes must be interrupted to prevent the illness. To this end, patients are kept under mosquito netting until the second bout of fever is over and they are no longer contagious.

The prevention of dengue requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue. In nations plagued by dengue fever, people are urged to empty stagnant water from old tires, trash cans, and flower pots. Governmental initiatives to decrease mosquitoes also help to keep the disease in check but have been poorly effective.

To prevent mosquito bites, wear long pants and long sleeves. For personal protection, use mosquito repellant sprays that contain DEET when visiting places where dengue is endemic. Limiting exposure to mosquitoes by avoiding standing water and staying indoors two hours after sunrise and before sunset will help. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a daytime biter with peak periods of biting around sunrise and sunset. It may bite at any time of the day and is often hidden inside homes or other dwellings, especially in urban areas.

There is currently no vaccine available for dengue fever. There is a vaccine undergoing clinical trials, but it is too early to tell if it will be safe or effective. Early results of clinical trials show that a vaccine may be available by 2012.


Where can people get more information on dengue fever?

"Dengue," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov/Dengue/

Dengue Fever At A Glance

Dengue fever is a disease caused by a family of viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes.
Symptoms such as headache, fever, exhaustion, severe joint and muscle pain, swollen glands (lymphadenopathy), and rash. The presence (the "dengue triad") of fever, rash, and headache (and other pains) is particularly characteristic of dengue fever.
Dengue is prevalent throughout the tropics and subtropics. Outbreaks have occurred recently in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, and Central America.
Because dengue fever is caused by a virus, there is no specific medicine or antibiotic to treat it. For typical dengue fever, the treatment is purely concerned with relief of the symptoms (symptomatic).
The acute phase of the illness with fever and myalgias lasts about one to two weeks.
Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a specific syndrome that tends to affect children under 10 years of age. It causes abdominal pain, hemorrhage (bleeding), and circulatory collapse (shock).
The prevention of dengue fever requires control or eradication of the mosquitoes carrying the virus that causes dengue.
There is currently no vaccine available for dengue fever.

[miranda]

canuckcouple - thanks for the heads up as we are heading down in a few days. We always take - and use - insect repellent whenever we travel to the Caribbean and we were curious just how bad the mossies are at Desire right now.

Did you use insect repellent at all?

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope you feel better soon!

[fun4us]

All good information. Thanks for sharing. When we were there the first week of August, they seemed to spray at dusk for bugs. Is that a common practice throughout the year?

[canuckcouple]

Curious canuckcouple- when you say you discovered you have Dengue fever, are you saying that this has been confirmed thru lab tests ?
In roughly 150 days spent at Desire we have been bitten hundreds of times with no serious effects. Of course it seems from the article that most healthy folks would not contract the disease and would show no effects. Still, we'd be interested to know if the diagnosis is confirmed.

Yes, It was confirmed by lab tests. Also, I am otherwise a very healthy person. It has been years since I've had the flu and can't remember the last time I've had a cold. I have read that in the last year there has been a sharp rise in the number of cases of dengue fever in Quintana Roo (over 1100 so far this year). Would it keep me away from Desire? No way! I would however use bug spray, particularly in the early evening hours when mosquitoes are out the most. Since I've had dengue once if I get it again there is a much greater chance that it could be the often deadly version (dengue hemorrhagic fever). One thing I noticed on this last trip too is that in the 10 nights we were there they only had the mosquitoe fogger out about 3 times and didn't seem to cover the entire resort either. When we were there in March every night just after dark they would go over the entire resort. With an increase in dengue risk perhaps the resort could do daily fogging and maybe even warn guests that there is a risk of dengue in Quintana Roo.