North Coast Sickness

[kathryn]

Illness/Virus

Thanks to all of you for the truth. I thought it may have been a case of over exageration. The whole world seems a bit jittery lately. We're looking forward to our return visit although, our 1st time on the North Coast. Any comments on a town called Costambar? and have the oceans a rocking caused the whales any disturbance?

 

[Lambada]

Costambar isn't a town, more a residential area with a few small hotels & some small supermarkets & colmados. Most of the Costambar residents shop in Puerto Plata. Sorry can't answer about the whales.

 

[Traveler1]

Sickness in DR

Just a note to any who are interested....my parents are in Puerto Plata at the moment and I just received word from the today. They are staying at the Sosua Bay Resort and told me that almost everyone is sick with this mysterious stomach flu. The Rui hotels have been shut down but it seems that this virus has not been contained and people are getting very sick. 4days of their holiday already has been wasted and they are still sick but are now well enough to go get a shot which they were told they're required to get.
If going to this area you might want to rethink your plans....

 

[chica]

Traveller,

Who told you that the riu hotels are closed?
I didn't heard anything yet.

 

[stallion]

I heard today here in Belgium that a doctor recommended taking MALARIA tablets also for the POP area now. Our Institute of Tropical Medicine does not report anything however (www.itg.be (in english) see Travel Health - Information per country).
Anyone knows anything about it?
Bartolomeo

My doctor in canada has also recommende Malaria tablets. i belive they were called chloriquen.

 

[BushBaby]

Just a note to any who are interested....my parents are in Puerto Plata at the moment and I just received word from the today. They are staying at the Sosua Bay Resort and told me that almost everyone is sick with this mysterious stomach flu. The Rui hotels have been shut down but it seems that this virus has not been contained and people are getting very sick. 4days of their holiday already has been wasted and they are still sick but are now well enough to go get a shot which they were told they're required to get.
If going to this area you might want to rethink your plans....

Just a note to anyone who is interested ..... I personally have been to a NUMBER of hotels in the Playa Dorada area & have been to Sosua twice in the last week. Holiday makers are getting around very well & do not appear to be in any form of discomfort from stomach ailments. Discussions with doctor friends & contacts of mine indicate a slight increase of complaining tourists, but they put this down to over sensitivity to world media trying to over react to "ANOTHER DISASTER" area - which it certainly is NOT!!

I totally concur with tourists being aware of things happening around them & being concious of their own health & taking precautions .... bur epidemics??? No WAY JOSE!! ~ Grahame.
(By the way ... Dominican doctors give a 'shot' to virtually any tourist who visits them, needed or not - it puts their insurance claim up by about 20%!!!!

 

[toby]

On January 21st, the return flight from POP to Ottawa was held on the tarmac and public health officials boarded and investigated the illnesses of several tourists. The investigation was centered around the presense of a "Norwalk" or similar influenza cases. The airport and flights were delayed until the investigation was completed. The plane and arrival areas have gone through a disfection protocol. On the same day a plane arriving in Toronto when through the same procedures.
For more information you can look for CTV's CJOH affilliate broadcasts, for Jan21st/22.
Terry

P.S. Public health officials are the first to respond, and risk there lives for others. Three cheers to the team who kept this contained and made sure this did not get blown out of proportion by the media and public.

 

[Hillbilly]

FActs on Norwalk virus

* Norwalk virus infection is an intestinal illness that often occurs in outbreaks.
* Norwalk and Norwalk-like viruses are increasingly being recognized as leading causes of foodborne disease in the United States.
* The viruses are passed in the stool of infected persons. People get infected by swallowing stool-contaminated food or water. Outbreaks in the United States are often linked to raw oysters.
* Infected people usually recover in 2 to 3 days without serious or long-term health effects.
* To prevent Norwalk virus infection: 1) wash hands with soap and warm water after toilet visits and before preparing or eating food; 2) cook all shellfish thoroughly before eating; 3) wash raw vegetables before eating; and 4) dispose of sewage in a sanitary manner.


As I have said before this is a hand to mouth problem at the resort. Simple issue of supervising hygiene of the employees.

Perhaps we should shoot one of them in the employees locker room before all of the other employees so that the idiots learn to waaahs their hands!!!

How stupid can they be?? Well we know the freakin' answer now, don't we??

HB

 

[Rocky]

Canadian press

As those Canadians (yes, I'm one too) are freezing their butts off, envious of all of us on warm tropical beaches, and they must be getting bored of being cooped up all winter and go on and on and on about nothing.
Like someone said above, first the sex scandal, then a couple of all inclusive Punta Cana tourists get Malaria while visiting Haiti, and now they would have us all dying in the streets here on the North coast.
Who knows what goes through those frozen brains, but I can tell you that if people are not coming here because of some phony scare, then it just might be a good thing. I spend more time everyday trying to find decent hotel rooms for tourists than I do in my own business. Everybody's booked up and I have not seen this many tourists in this area for over 8 years.
As Hillbilly suggested shooting employees in the locker room who don't wash their hands, perhaps we could dispose of a couple of Canadian reporters who twist, distort, invent and embellish news reports in a weak attempt to advance their careers.
It makes me ashamed to be Canadian...

 

[Hlywud]

Norovirus recognized

The problem has been recognized by Tour operator and Hotel owner, this is a copy of letter being sent to all booked Sunquest customers. There have been sporadic reports of the norovirus coming from other hotels as well. It is not an epidemic but there is a strain of norovirus going around somewhere in the DR.
I think that the press has blown it like all bad news out of proportion, but do they ever report any good news other than sports. Rocky you can still be a proud Canadian just hope the virus doesnt find you.

January 2005
Dear Sunquest Customer:
You may have heard about incidents of illness occurring in RIU Hotel and Resorts in the Dominican Republic.

We have recently received confirmation from RIU that the gastrointestinal illness affecting a limited number of travelers at specific RIU resorts in Puerto Plata and Punta Cana in Dominican Republic is a norovirus. We have no other cases of illness reported at any of our other properties in the Dominican Republic.

The norovirus is a common viral gastroenteritis illness usually found on cruise ships, hotels and resorts, hospital settings and childcare facilities. Health Canada reports that,generally, the norovirus only causes minor illness and according to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, 23 million annual cases of acute gastroenteritis are due to norovirus infection. In fact, it is now thought that at least 50% of all food borne outbreaks of gastroenteritis can be attributed to noroviruses.

Sunquest?s International Health & Safety team routinely inspects all of our resort properties to ensure the highest standards in health and safety for our travelers. We are working closely with Health Canada, local government officials and RIU resorts who have brought in a team of experts including doctors, lab technicians and cleaning specialists to resolve the situation.
Our commitment to our travelers is to provide a safe and healthy travel experience.
Therefore as a precautionary measure, Sunquest is changing your travel
accommodations for all customers scheduled to travel to RIU Resorts in the Dominican Republic between today and Feb. 15th 2005. We expect this situation to be fully resolved by Feb. 15/05.
As a Sunquest customer who will be traveling during this time, we advise you to work with your travel agent to change your hotel accommodations to one of Sunquest?s many high quality properties in the Dominican Republic. You will also have the option of changing your departure dates, destination or cancellation.
Sunquest sincerely apologizes for this inconvenience. We thank you for your
understanding at this time and working with us to ensure you continue to have a great vacation experience with Sunquest.
If you have any further questions, please talk to your travel agent or put your questions in writing to Sunquest Customer Service, 130 Merton Street, Toronto, ON, M4S 1A4.
Sincerely,

 

[Kiwicanuck]

Another Perspective ( just )

I am not a ?suck up kind of guy? however I must comment that the three previous posting by Hillbilly, Rocky and Hlywud are a credit to this Forum and reflective of the many quality posting that show up on the Dr1 Board?s.

It is obvious to me there intention is to give a fair perspective in there own words which gives us a chance to see it in a better light.

This whole norovirus issue effects us all in different ways. In my case it could be said that it has a negative as well as a positive aspect to it.

The negative is that I was fairly sick the first three days after getting back to Canada on Dec. 1st after spending two weeks in Sosua.

Just the usual travel stuff, upset stomach, low fever, headache, sore throat etc. I did not stay at an All Inclusive Hotel I must say and I did a lot eating with local Dominicans the last week I was there.

The weirdest thing tho was that I was not just sick but the time seemed to be standing still. I had read a while ago that someone had ?experienced that? very thing when they had Malaria. I heard a Malaria warning on the radio about people coming back from the D.R. about two hours after having that thought go thru my head on my first day back.

The warning out there in the press in Canada was for those that were returning from the Punta Cana area I was soon able to find out from the Internet.

So I was sick like I had a norovirus and was covered in mosquito bites which infect humans with Malaria. So, I didn?t panic. The next day I went to see my Doctor and told him I thought I probably just had a travel bug and really didn?t think I had Malaria although I did have the strange feeling of time passing soooo slowly. We decided I would just wait out the other symptoms for a few days but I would go and get the blood tested for Malaria just to be safe. Result was I felt better within 4 or 5 days and a negative test on the Malaria question.

The press reporting in this case was fair and balanced and informative and probably never effected my judgment mostly because of being a very experienced traveler.

What could be the positive in all this that I mentioned earlier. At times being selfish ( like most of us are sometimes ) I thought there may have been hotel cancellations and even better Charter air fare prices slashed. Then I had thought that the busy season in POP may have opened up and allowed me to get back down there sooner and cheaper.

Wishful thinking I guess as Rocky has said how busy its been there lately.

However if I had got back down sooner I could of at least bought you some sunshine from up here.

.

 

[akareese]

There has been a lot of reports of sickness in the North coast resorts around POP, does anyone have any information!

I've also heard of reports, I live in New York though and haven't heard of any localy - any report I've heard has come from family in the midwest - I'm planning to arrive on Feb 20th - I'm thinking everything will clear by then - has anyone heard anything recent about the Playa Dorada area, I don't think any resorts in that area have reported anything

 

[toby]

Many illnesses can also travel with the tourist and can be similar in appearance/symptoms. In my area there is a high level of Strep Throat reported as well as we are currently in the high reporting range of the flu season. Take care of your health before traveling, ask for travel health info from your doctor before leaving, health insurance is a must for any travel, play safe and avoid injury, and enjoy the beauty and bounty of the island.
Cheers
Toby

 

[akareese]

question for you

Many illnesses can also travel with the tourist and can be similar in appearance/symptoms. In my area there is a high level of Strep Throat reported as well as we are currently in the high reporting range of the flu season. Take care of your health before traveling, ask for travel health info from your doctor before leaving, health insurance is a must for any travel, play safe and avoid injury, and enjoy the beauty and bounty of the island.
Cheers
Toby

Where are you from? The only reason I ask is that my wife is pregnant and we have been planning this trip for over a year - obviously she was not pregnant when we started to plan - with only three weeks left to our arrivial and the media doing what it does it has made my wife a little skeptical of going on this trip - Do you have any insight that would calm her senses -
anything would be appreciated.
Thanks kindly looking foward to traveling

 

[Hillbilly]

I have been very hard on the hotel employees, but

Today as I was thinking about all of this mess, it came to me that Dominican authorities just have to request the Canadian authorities to follow up on this. This is crucial!

Look. A tourist can only get this Norwalk virus by putting food or something else that has been dirtied by human fecal material. It is not airborne.

So, it seems to me that the Canadian health services would be doing everyone a big vfavor if they interviewed the people who got sick and traced their movements.

1) Did they ever leave the facility?
2) Where did they go and what did they eat?

These answers might assist a whole bunch in finding out where the isllness is coming from.

3) Are the ill coming from different hotels? If this is true, it might be in the food supply chain. Perhaps a vendor is "freshening up" his produce with dirty sewer water-it "looks clean."

As for new visitors. Just be cautious. Don't eat anything you don't peel yourself, for example. Eat a good breakfast that you watch being prepared.
Avoid the salads for a week, it won't ruin your vacation. Eat only hot, cooked veggies. Of course, bottled water.

HB

 

[easygoin]

The other day we had a true ship come in early to Tampa because 200 people were sick. They made all the sick passengers stay in their cabins and leaned all the healthy people with their belongings to other ones until the ship reached port. So it's not just the DR that the press at something to talk about. Still packing surgical gloves,anitibacterial hand soap, and toilet paper in my suitcase and my golf bag just in case.

 

[Lambada]

Today as I was thinking about all of this mess, it came to me that Dominican authorities just have to request the Canadian authorities to follow up on this. This is crucial!

Look. A tourist can only get this Norwalk virus by putting food or something else that has been dirtied by human fecal material. It is not airborne.

So, it seems to me that the Canadian health services would be doing everyone a big vfavor if they interviewed the people who got sick and traced their movements.

1) Did they ever leave the facility?
2) Where did they go and what did they eat?

These answers might assist a whole bunch in finding out where the isllness is coming from.

3) Are the ill coming from different hotels? If this is true, it might be in the food supply chain. Perhaps a vendor is "freshening up" his produce with dirty sewer water-it "looks clean."

As for new visitors. Just be cautious. Don't eat anything you don't peel yourself, for example. Eat a good breakfast that you watch being prepared.
Avoid the salads for a week, it won't ruin your vacation. Eat only hot, cooked veggies. Of course, bottled water.

HB

I also think HB they need to check the swimming pools..........water is easily ingested in a pool & if contaminated bottoms have already been there..........
which is why I was suggesting people at the Bachata should swim in the sea.

 

[Renee from MSP]

RIU Illness

I realize it has been some time since a report regarding illness has been posted but I must inform I was at RIU Merengue December 10 -18 and managed to escape this terrible illness somehow. My companion was ill for one day but could have been over-exertion - sun, water, etc, (not a drinker). But trust me I had enough for both of us and was fine... we stayed in a lower unit which did smell of mildew but I understood since we were in a tropical area. We ate all the buffet items, including much shrimp, oysters, salmon, cerveche, etc. which I very much enjoyed, we swam in the ocean, snorkled, eating god knows what (salads, sandwiches, etc. which the crew did not eat-they ordered in at Sosoua) we were out on the beach late walking too, I got mosquito bites and sand flies bites, but nothing compared to what is described herewith and on other sites. I don't understand how some could become so ill and others not, we traveled to Puerto Plata proper and Cabarete eating and meeting locals along the way, how could we escape it? My heart goes out to all who were ill and of course the RIU workers who must be devestated because of this.

 

[Escott]

While I do NOT run a business in the DR as Rocky does, I have been inundated with email from people who have seen my name on one message board or another asking about this virus.

I DO NOT KNOW ONE SINGLE PERSON SICK ON THE WHOLE NORTH COAST!

Perhaps they got sick coming down on a Canadian plane with bad food, who knows, but I no of not one single person with even a sniffle.

Say what ever you want and talk about whatever you want but as far as I know this is a NON ISSUE.

Escott

 

[planner]

I also live in Puerto Plata. I work in tourism and I am in and out of hotels all the time. Other then seeing a lot of cold symptoms I have not seen or heard of anyone getting sick like described. Yes I have heard about what is happening at the RIU hotels but I have not seen anything elsewhere, nor have I heard of problems anywhere else!

As a matter of fact I ate brunch at a Playa Dorada hotel yesterday. I spoke with staff and no one is aware of illness other then the self induced brand.

If I hear of anything I will certainly post it.