BRING BUG SPRAY!!!!!!!

To all of you travelling to DR in near future a word of warning: BRING SOME BUG SPRAY WITH YOU!!!!

My family went to Bayahibe and we were stung pretty well all over by mosquitoes! Pretty bad!!! And now we all have flu symptoms, which is pretty scary because we don't know if it is just the flu or DENGUE FEVER or MALARIA!

We all went through several blood smear tests and so far test negative, but that is not necessarily cause to celebrate yet, as malaria can be very hard to find sometimes so we will have to go through more testing in near future.

Please do not forget your bug spray and have a safe and healthy vacation.

Mina

If you will check around you will find that 50% of the people in the US and canada have those same symptoms and they have never seen the DR. Don't worry about it being something that you contracted there. I have been there 10 timews and never had even the slightest cold.

Bug spray? You mean insect repellent as opposed to pesticide. In the USA we ofen use the words bug spray to mean pesticide.

All the below information is to avoid mosquito bites, which I detest. It's rarely serious but damned annoying. To get Malaria from a mosquito, a single mosquito would have to have bitten something else that carries it, then bite you. If you avoid getting bitten, the odds of getting Malaria go way down, and they aren't high anyway at this time. The mosquito population varies greatly by region, time of year, amount of recent rain, and government and resort efforts to spray the area with pesticide. Sometimes I never even see a mosquito for an entire visit, other times, I can't seem to avoid getting bitten. Nobody can say for sure how it will be when you visit.

Studies repeatedly show that products such as skin-so-soft that do not contain DEET (http://www.tendercorp.com/deetqa.html) do not work for most people. You need a product that contains DEET, the active ingredient in OFF!. Repellent containing DEET is readily available if you forget, but you'll pay resort or tourist town prices, which can easily be double or triple what you'd pay at your home supermarket or drug store. Since some people feel DEET in strong concentrations can be harmful to children, there are alternatives such as Natrapel (http://www.tendercorp.com/natrapel.html).

Since its not practical to cover yourself from head to toe with repellent when you sleep and mosquito nets need to be hung from something, if you've got mosquitoes in your room, I'd recommend picking up a can of pesticide and spraying the room before you go out to dinner for a few hours. A local brand ByGone works well.

I've tried bug lights. First, battery powered units and then I brought a full power 1/4 acre pool bug light, figuring it would kill the 2 or 3 mosquitoes I couldn't seem to catch but would ultimately bite me overnight. Trust me, they don't work.

Wear long pants and socks starting just before sunset and especially to dinner if dining outside, as most resort and many restaurant dining facilities are.

Finally, if you get bit, a weak solution of Ammonium Hydroxide (common name is Ammonia used in washing clothes) applied directly to the bite works wonders to stop the itching. There is a product called Afterbite (http://www.tendercorp.com/afterbite.html) that contains Ammonium Hydroxide in a convenient stick applicator that I always carry and for me, it works REAL well, eliminating the itch in seconds.

1/15/00

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

When is the rainy season? Are there any statistic stating when the mosquito population is at its highest?

The Dominican Republic's rainier months are September and October, basically following the Caribbean hurricane season but it varies a bit by region. There is no official rainy season.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT???????

excuse me, but perhaps you don't realize the fatality odds involved with diseases such as malaria and dengue fever...

Although it is true that the odds of us having only contracted the flu that is presently circulating the world are probably very high, we cannot turn a blind eye to the possibility of these other killer sicknesses.

We would indeed be stupid not to take malaria and dengue seriously and under these circumastances.

So far we have tested negative on the blood smear tests but we have to keep testing for as long as these fevers we have persist. malaria is hard to detect sometimes because the parasites are present in only parts of the blood stream so you essentially have to "fish" for it. This is why they generally do a deep smear test and a high smear test.

The long and short of it is this: if you come back from the tropics with fevers and flu symptoms go directly to your doctor and get him to test you. You do not want to take a "don't worry about it" attitude. That could cost you your life!!!!

mina

By bug spray I meant both kinds!

The kind you put on your body to repel the mosquitoes and the kind you sparay in your room to kill the ones that sneak in.

You see the kind that sneak in your room could be the ones that give you dengue fever. They circulate in the day and when the maid is cleaning your room during the day she leaves your windows and door wide open.... leaving them a chance to come in. So you need to spray the room to get rid of them.

Then the malaria mosquitoes circulate at dusk and dawn times. So if you are out then you need bug repellent at those times. Some people are recommending to wear repellent at all times.

mina

Rainy season is usually October and November. But "El Nino" has been playing games with weather patterns all over. This year record amounts of rain and extended hot weather periods have reacted on mosquito breeding patterns causing huge amounts of mosquitoes to plague the tropics.

Friends of mine live in Mexico and told me that the Mexican Gov't has given out Malaria pills like candy this year. Surprisingly (or not!) no warnings to tourists were issued even though the highest numbers were reported in places like Playa del Carmen where tons of tourists flock to each year.

mina

Does any one have a link to a chart that shows annual rain fall? Not only am I curious about the mosquito aspects, I would like to know if my vacation (April-May) falls into a low rain period. Karen

My experience is that there is no mosquito explosion in the north or the south end of the Dominican Republic, where I've been spending 8 days a month. I haven't felt the need to put on repellent since October and get perhaps a bite or two a month. This is a big difference from last year, when there were mosquitoes galore after the hurricane. I attribute it in part at least to the cooler weather that we've been having. The mosquito thing is something I take attention to. They always get me.

Jim Hinsch JimHinsch@CSI.COM