When traveling to any country it is always smart to look into the possible diseases that one can pick up while on vacation.  Well, unless you are traveling to a very remote area in Costa Rica is not advised to take anything.  If you are traveling to a remote location Malaria pills may be in order.  The most common disease that travelers encounter is Dengue fever.  This is passed by mosquitoes and there is no vaccine available. 

Dengue is much like catching a really nasty flu.  The symptoms start to show up about 4-7 days after one is bitten.  The symptoms include frontal headaches, high fever, and joint and muscular pain.  In fact many people refer to it as the Bone Crusher because it causes one to become so achy. In addition, nausea, vomiting, and rashes may appear.  These rashes appear 3-5 days after onset of fever and although it is nasty, it is not normally fatal.

There are four different kinds of Dengue, one described above, and another, much more fatal version is the dengue hemorrhagic fever, DHF.  This is the nasty one and can be fatal so the symptoms should not be ignored.

To reduce the instance of contracting this nasty virus use bug repellent with a high content of DEET and wear long sleeved clothing.  The mosquitoes that carry the virus are daytime feeding insects that are highly active right at daybreak and right before dusk.  They are more prevalent at the beaches and rain forest areas, but they have been reported in San Jose as well. 

There is no need to panic, just make sure you wear your DEET insect repellent, and be looking out for the symptoms. 

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Filed under: Costa Rican Wildlife on August 16th, 2007