Fear of Friends

Since I have been sick for the past week, I thought it might be apropos to write about tropical diseases – or at least those you may be unlucky enough to encounter while travelling in Mexico or Central America.

Most of the bad bugs you want to avoid down here fall into two categories: Food/water borne and Mosquito borne.

Hepatitis A and B and Typhoid fever are all spread through contaminated food or water. Generally, they are more common in poor areas with bad sanitation and limited education regarding food left out in the heat; the importance of hand washing; and keeping flies off food and ingredients. It does, however, happen in populated and popular areas tourist – especially in the “off season” when temperatures are hot and humid, and restaurants are less busy, therefore food tends to sit around longer.

These illnesses can be life threatening. In fact, if left untreated, 20% of people with Typhoid fever will die. Fortunately you can be vaccinated; unfortunately the vaccinations are not 100% effective. When I had Typhoid fever last year, the Specialist that treated me said there is a 40% spike every year in these illnesses in Sept through November. The best way to avoid these is to wash fruits and vegetables very well before eating (using purified or treated water), and during the humid season, stay away from street vendors and open air restaurants, or if you just cannot stay away, always ask for your food to be prepared “extra hot.” (Temperature hot – not extra peppers.)

Since most tourist come south in the dry winter season, the risk is far lower for these illnesses being contracted, but for those of you considering living in the tropics full time, it is important to be aware of the conditions that contribute to the contraction of these diseases.

There is also a moderate risk, at any time of the year, of insect borne illnesses like Dengue fever, Chikungunya, and Zika. All three viruses cause flu-like symptoms of aches, fever, and joint pain – and there are no vaccinations for these. The only prophylactic measures you can take are wearing insect repellent with DEET and avoid being outdoors. Avoiding the outdoors kind of defeats the purpose of being here, in my opinion, so I choose not to do this, and I cannot stand the smell of insect repellent, so I try to avoid being out around sunrise and sunset unless well covered, as this is when most of the nasty little critters are out and about. I also purchased a couple of those wearable insect repellent machines you clip on…they have a little mini fan that blows a scent that mosquitoes hate. They work very well, and instead of wearing it, I just place one on the table when we sit outside to eat.

Fortunately we have been lucky to avoid any of these illnesses (so far), although one of our neighbours was just diagnosed with Dengue…so there are obviously mosquitoes around here carrying the virus – so I shall be ever more diligent in the coming months.

Meanwhile, I have been laid low by a pesky virus brought to me courtesy of a friend from Canada. Perhaps I should fear the mosquitoes less and the visitors more?