Dengue Fever

RonS said:

How serious are the reports of Dengue Fever in the DR? How is it transmitted and treated, and how can we protect ourselves from it?

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There's been only 10 confirmed death associated with dengue hemorrhagic fever this year, practically all cases coming from the Santo Domingo and surrounding areas. Classic dengue fever symptoms mimic those of the flu, and children's hospitals have recently been overrun with mother's carrying feverish kids, not knowing that fever is actually good as a natural mechanism to fight any infection, and complications arising from high fever are actually very rare. An alarmist press coverage coinciding with a current government program to inform the populace regarding the eradication of the mosquito (aedes aegypti) breeding habits, has created the impression that there's some sort of dengue epidemic in the DR. This is not the case. Dengue fever is transmitted when an aedes aegypti mosquito bites an infected person, and then bites another person with a weakened immune system. Very rarely a healthy individual acquires dengue fever after being bitten by a dengue infected mosquito. Something to keep in mind is that the mosquito vector only bites during daylight hours, so that the use of a mosquito net for sleeping at night is useless against it.

RonS - that won't be good enough. The mossy's need repellant with at least 22% DEET in it. I doubt you will get that in your sunblock! If you find that- let us all know.

Make sure to use the repellent well into the evening as they little buggers love to be out between 4 and 7pm! I also would take mosquitto spray for your room if you are in a resort. When the staff clean they leave the doors wide open - I hate mosquittos in my room at night!

I heard that most resorts in the East, including the ones in Punta Cana and Bavaro, aerially fumigate at least twice a year, up to four kilometers inland from the resorts, since most mosquitoes do not travel further than within a two kilometer radius.