Dengue Fever in Atenas

The rainy season seems to have brought a very unwanted visitor to our little town of Atenas. There is apparently a fairly serious outbreak of Dengue Fever here. This a tropical mosquito-borne disease (like malaria) and can be life-threatening. The symptoms include sudden onset fever and severe muscle and joint pain that gives it the nickname “break-bone fever”, or “bone-crusher disease”… Yikes!

So, when Nathan started getting sick and vomiting the other day, we were quite concerned. I took him to the clinic where there was a large line-up. We were really fortunate to meet up with Gretel who helped us through everything. She is a nurse at the clinic, but she also does extra work at our little resort of Poco Cielo, so we know her quite well.

She asked if I had his school health insurance number (no, I didn’t). No problem, she went behind the desk and found it herself. Then she took us directly back to see the doctor, bypassing all the people in line. The doctor prescribed a shot to help Nathan’s vomiting (which Gretel gave him immediately after the consult), and a blood test to see if he had Dengue. So, amazingly, Gretel walked us down to the lab, allowed us to jump to the head of THAT line as well. Then she tells us that we don’t have to wait for the results, that she will watch out for them and phone me later. Ha! This is like the best visit to a clinic I’ve ever had. (Then again I wasn’t the sick one. Sorry Nathan)

A couple of hours later she phones us and gives us the great news that Nathan does NOT have Dengue, but a stomach parasite, and a simple round of antibiotics should clear it up in no time. She says she has the antibiotics there at the clinic and I can come pick them up. (This just gets better all the time!) When I showed up at the clinic I find her quickly, she gives me the drugs and I ask her how much will it cost for the doctor’s visit, the lab tests and the drugs. The answer? Nothing. Not a penny. I can’t remember how much it cost for a year of mandatory school insurance, but I think it was around $80 - $100 Canadian for both kids!

We had heard that there were more than 300 cases of Dengue in Atenas, and more coming everyday. Just today the kids’ school sent a note home announcing an “emergency meeting” at the municipal building to discuss this “grave situation”.

We only know of a couple of people who have been diagnosed with it, and one is the kids’ Spanish tutor, Miss Daisy. She told me that her symptoms were very minor and was only sick for a couple of days. She is back with us tonight helping the kids prepare for their last exams here in Costa Rica next week.

So, hopefully we will be OK for the last 4 weeks or so. You can rest assured we will putting on the bug spray as we figure DEET is the lesser of the two evils.