No menu items!

COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER

HomeChikungunya bluesChikungunya and dengue viruses overtake Guanacaste

Chikungunya and dengue viruses overtake Guanacaste

HUACAS, Guanacaste — The pain doesn’t sit on the surface. It lies deep in the bones, rising up in every flex or twist of a joint. For patients with dengue fever or the chikungunya virus, it’s these aches that bother them the most.

“You feel awful with both diseases,” said César Fuentes, a doctor with the Beachside Clinic in Huacas, Guanacaste, near Tamarindo. “Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot we can do.”

At least two patients a day show up at the Beachside Clinic with symptoms of either dengue or chikungunya, Fuentes said, and the clinic isn’t alone. Since July, coastal provinces, especially Guanacaste, have seen spikes in confirmed cases of the diseases. Without a blood test the two viruses are almost indistinguishable, and both cause fever, headaches, joint pain, extreme fatigue and rashes. Doctors will monitor a patient’s vitals, but beyond pumping the patient full of Tylenol, there is nothing they can do to ease the symptoms.

Chikungunya cases have increased 20-fold since last year when the virus first arrived in Costa Rica. While chikungunya is rarely fatal, patients can experience pain in their joints for up to a year after contracting the virus. A new study released in the scientific journal “Neurology” last month also showed that those infected with chikungunya were more likely to later develop encephalitis, a potentially fatal brain inflammation.

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

According to the Health Ministry, the number of people infected with dengue has also increased this year, with 14,322 confirmed cases. Nearly 75 percent of these infections occurred in Guanacaste and Puntarenas.

While the virus usually lurks in highly populated areas, it has also now spread into more rural zones. At one point in September, the entire 300-person village of Arado in Guanacaste was reportedly infected with dengue.

Dengue fever has long been common in Costa Rica’s coastal regions, but Health Ministry officials are concerned about the spike in infections. In 2013, nearly 50,000 people in Costa Rica were infected with dengue, an all-time record. The next year, the number of cases dropped significantly. Since dengue is a cyclical disease, the Health Ministry says the slight increase this year could signify the beginning of another spike.

“In Guanacaste everyone has had dengue, and we know how to treat it,” Fuentes said. “Here people should wear mosquito repellent the same way they wear sunscreen.”

Trending Now

Costa Rica 2026 Elections Kick Off: 20 Candidates Vie for Presidency

Costa Rica's electoral season began yesterday with the Supreme Electoral Tribunal's official call for the 2026 national elections. Eugenia Zamora, the TSE president, described...

Mexican Diver Survives Shark Attack at Costa Rica’s Cocos Island

A Mexican tourist survived a shark bite during a dive near Cocos Island National Park, off Costa Rica's Pacific coast. The man, in his...

Jane Goodall dies at 91 after transforming chimpanzee science and conservation

British primatologist Jane Goodall, who transformed the study of chimpanzees and became one of the world's most revered wildlife advocates, has died at the...

Costa Rica Court Orders Return of Public Land in Nosara

Community leaders in Nosara are demanding swift and transparent action from the Municipality of Nicoya after the Constitutional Court ordered the recovery of 80...

Bills Target Crucitas Gold Mining Mess in Costa Rica

Crucitas ranks among Costa Rica's most severe environmental setbacks. Illegal gold mining has ravaged the area for years, bringing crime, community unrest, water pollution,...

Panama Ranches Adopt New Measures to Curb Jaguar Attacks

An increasing number of farms in Panama are taking steps to reduce jaguar attacks on livestock, showing that coexistence between people and these American...
spot_img
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Coffee Maker Chorreador
Costa Rica Travel Insurance
Costa Rica Rocking Chait
Costa Rica Travel

Latest News from Costa Rica