American Expatriate Costa Rica

Zika, dengue and chikungunya keep threatening Costa Rica

Puntarenas and Matina (Limón) have most of zika suspected cases.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, to date, authorities have confirmed 37 cases of the virus, among more than 200 reported cases.

There are also communities such as Orotina, Siquirres and Bagaces that are suspected of having zika cases.

To date, there aren’t new reports of people affected by the worst sequels of zika, such as microcephaly, which affects newborn babies, and other neurological syndromes such as Guillain Barré syndrome.

However, ignoring zika, dengue and chikungunya won’t protect us. It is necessary to prevent water from stagnating in our homes. By doing this, we will keep mosquitoes breeding sites at bay.

Only this month, more than 115,000 breeding sites were found in the country and authorities have visited almost 32,000 houses and fumigated nearly 13,000 of them.

538 chikungunya patients were reported during the second week of January. This is an important increase when compared to the same period in 2016 (27 cases).

In addition, the first 2 weeks of the year showed much fewer dengue cases (228) compared to 2016, when more than 1,600 cases were confirmed.

crhoy.com