With all the drama unfolding in Haiti, I was wondering if any of you are well versed in health concerns regarding visitors to the DR (read here all the diseases that could flourish under such desastrous conditions).
Speak for yourself!Nal0whs said:Haiti's problems are Haiti's problems. The world don't care and neither do we (DR) about Haiti or its problems.
Pib said:Speak for yourself!
:tired:
For some bizzare reason, Malaria incidents in the DR are extremely low
deandebean said:With all the drama unfolding in Haiti, I was wondering if any of you are well versed in health concerns regarding visitors to the DR (read here all the diseases that could flourish under such desastrous conditions).
Pib said:Speak for yourself!
:tired:
CyaBye3015 said:Thank you Pib, you took the words right out of my mouth, who the "H" does Nal0whs think he/she is to speak for everyone in the DR!!!
Joe
Lambada said:It may interest you to note that while I could not locate any cholera vaccine in the farmacias in Puerto Plata last week, I was able to locate an abundance of treatments for AFTER you get it! Not surprising that the vaccine was not available, since supposedly cholera was erradicated world wide years ago.
Nal0whs said:Haiti's problems are Haiti's problems. The world don't care and neither do we (DR) about Haiti or its problems.
However, there is a flow of illegal haitians into the DR (and other islands in the Caribbean). Let's just say that Haitians are not the most desired immigrants either in the DR or any other Caribbean country or even in the USA. As such, there is a lot of prejudice against them, but all that the Haitian government does is point at the abuses and they do nothing in attempting to help with the economic problems of Haiti, which is the culprit of the Haitian diaspora in the region.
All of that aside, you should not worry about health problems. Just don't drink tap water in the DR or anywhere tropical because tap water in tropical places (including south Florida) have high levels of bacteria, encourage to grow there because of the high temperatures.
There are going to be some gigantic outbreaks of disease in Haiti. Again, you should not really worry about it for the following reasons:
1. You would most likely not encounter a Haitian. Usually they are in the sugar cane fields cutting the sugar or they are begging in the streets or they are chopping down the forest illegally to take back to Haiti and make charcoal. Their country is now nicknamed "the eroding nation" because of the lack of trees which were mostly cut down by the Haitians. Now, they are coming to the DR and trying to do the same since we got a heck lot more beautiful tropical forest then they have. BTW, they are also responsible for illegal choppings of trees in the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Bahamas, Cuba,and even Jamaica has a slight problem with illegal Haitians cutting down timber.
2. There are many Haitian health problems that for some reason don't affect too much the DR. Don't ask me why, just be glad that is the case! An example would be Malaria, its beyond epidemic in Haiti, I think one can consider that to be a part of life in Haiti. Getting Malaria there is like getting a simple cold in the US, just widespread. For some bizzare reason, Malaria incidents in the DR are extremely low and mostly restricted to the border region. Most resorts are quite a treck away from the border, so no need to worry about Malaria or anything else from Haiti while in the DR.
3. The DR and Haiti are world away in terms of development. Take this in consideration. Hurricane Jeanne (and every other hurricane that has hit this island prior to it) hit the DR much harder and worst than they hit Haiti. The DR takes floods, strong winds, the full mambo jambo of Hurricanes. You'd expect the DR to suffer more and yet, Haiti is the one who suffers the most. They get some rain and bam, a gigantic flood forms out of nothing (because they chopped down the trees which used to hold the dirt in place) and they get inundated with mud, water, and disease. So, there plus or minus 10 death in the DR from Hurricane Jeanne, and Haiti stands at near 2,000.
You don't have much to worry about, unless you are planning to go into Haitian territory. If so, may God be with you because you will need it when dodging the bullets from militia men, crossing over flooded rivers, and running away from beggars who expect you to give each and every single one of them a dollar!
Nal0whs said:Ok, so maybe Dominicans care a little bit, but we will not fix it for them.
There, do I speak for most now? :nervous: