Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, struggles with both dengue fever and chikungunya

Registered chikungunya fever cases have increased 20-fold in Guanacaste since last year when the virus first arrived in Costa Rica. While chikungunya virus causes debilitating pains in joints and bones, it is rarely fatal, although some patients can develop encephalitis, a potentially fatal brain inflammation.

Costa Rica has reported 3,700 cases of chikungunya in 2015, and more than half of these infections occurred in the last two months. Guanacaste, Puntarenas and Limón have been the most severely affected.

The number of people infected with dengue has also increased this year, with 14,322 confirmed cases nationwide. Nearly 75 percent of these infections occurred in Guanacaste and Puntarenas.

النصيحة

All travellers to areas where both the dengue fever and chikungunya fever viruses are active can reduce their risk of exposure by taking all necessary precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Many persons with these infections do not seek medical care and are not reported to health authorities. There may be many more cases of both diseases in the community than the reports indicate.