Pack your insect repellent! Dengue fever in Curacao

[kpickerell]

As divers we tend to think mainly about the dangers lurking underwater without much thought to those above. We returned from a dive trip to Curacao Nov. 20. Within three days my husband/dive buddy had 102+ temperature. Within four days we were at the ER. After ruling out typical things such as mono, strep, flu, etc., and after seeing a hematologist, my husband's diagnosis was dengue fever, a tropical disease similar to malaria that's spread by mosquitoes. Since it had been raining in Curacao, mosquitoes were abundant. The doctor said that most of the places where we dive are unfortunately endemic for dengue and malaria. The prevention is simple and inexpensive... bug spray WITH deet and doxycycline to be taken before and during the trip. Needless to say, I'm not leaving home without both, and they'll be packed along with my dive gear, C-card, etc.

 

[tangfish]

Good post. I take Malarone, not sure if it works for dengue but I like it over doxy for malaria protection. Sorry to hear about your husband. Hope he gets better soon!

 

[Shasta_man]

Ugly. Though it sucks to have, it is good that it manifested itself so quickly, rather than some bizarre illness months later.

 

[OnTheSpot]

The only prevention for Dengue is avoiding mosquito bites. The mosquito bites during the day time. There is no specific treatment apart from rest and fluids.

Normally you should be fine after a week or two.

I hope your husband is better soon.

 

[swamp diver]

The doctor said that most of the places where we dive are unfortunately endemic for dengue and malaria. The prevention is simple and inexpensive... bug spray WITH deet and doxycycline to be taken before and during the trip. Needless to say, I'm not leaving home without both, and they'll be packed along with my dive gear, C-card, etc.

Dengue is caused by a virus of which there are 4 serotypes. The first bout of dengue will give you immunity only to the serotype you were exposed to. Aside from a week in bed if one is healthy there should be no complications. The problem arises with the second infection with a different serotype as the risk of dengue hemorrhagic fever rises from negligible to a few percentage points for an adult Westerner. If possible you should try and determine which serotype you were exposed to. If travelling to another region in the future with an outbreak of one of the other three serotypes you'd be best to avoid the area.

Malarone is used for malarious areas which have drug resistance to chloroquine. Most of the Carribean region's malaria is still sensitive to chloroquine so that is the drug of choice for that area.

One of the best sources of info to check for outbreaks and which is the best malarial drug for prophylaxis is the CDC's site at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Hope your husband is feeling well soon.

 

[DandyDon]

Swamp Diver was posting when I did. His post is better.

Good post. I take Malarone, not sure if it works for dengue but I like it over doxy for malaria protection. Sorry to hear about your husband. Hope he gets better soon!

Those are prophylactics for malaria that have no affect at all on dengue from what I have read. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is your best overall source of info altho it's up to you and your physician to decide which applies.

The only prevention for Dengue is avoiding mosquito bites. The mosquito bites during the day time. There is no specific treatment apart from rest and fluids.

 

[Ayisha]

Hope your husband is feeling better...

The only issue with deet is that it is not very compatible with wetsuits or other dive gear. Cutter Advanced works fabulously and contains picaridin, which is also approved by the CDC. Cutter Advanced is odourless, doesn't have that greasy feeling of deet, and will not destroy synthetic fabrics, so your wetsuit and other divegear is safe, and it works extremely well. After using it for the last couple of years in Roatan, the Nile area, Florida, cottage country, etc., I would not want to go back to deet.

You can read about Cutter Advanced here: Cutter :: Cutter Advanced

You can follow the link to more information on picaridin here: Picaridin

 

[kpickerell]

I personally like Cutter. The hematologist isn't a diver, so his awareness of how deet works with dive gear is non-existent. However, to be fair, the only time we were bitten was after diving and not during the day while we were using gear. We go back to the hematologist next week for follow-up blood work (platelet and blood counts), so we plan on discussing this a little more in depth. We leave for Belize in 2 months. We don't want a repeat!!!

 

[DevonDiver]

I caught Dengue when I lived in Thailand. It's a pretty 'robust' illness, but as others have said, much better than a long-term illness like Malaria.

I was in bed for a week. Very high fever, rash and 'eyeball headache'. After that week I felt better...and made the mistake of teaching an OW course. I got through teaching the course, but it exhausted me to the point that I was ill again for another week following.

With hindsight, it was stupid to rush back into diving again so quickly (such is the pressure on a dive instructor in Asia). I am sure that I must have been at a much higher DCS risk during that time... violently shivering on the boat during the surface intervals was an obvious bad sign. lol

 

[chauncy19]

Just back from Curacao and suffering from what I believe is dengue. stayed at westpunt at allwest. unfortunately Andreas from allwest and ocean encounters came down with Dengue while I was there. so the problem is real. I thought I took necessary precautions but obviously not enough. Fortunately am sick now at home not on vacation but this sucks.