We haven't gotten any vaccines or taken meds, but we are careful to use mosquito repellent.

I checked the monthly bulletins from the Ministry of Health website and there were cases reported in 2010.

You can review the 2010 cases reported to date on page 5 of this report. The Caribbeam coast is the area with most cases, corresponding to the map I posted a link to above.

Dengue was a far bigger risk in 2010 and there is no vaccine.

http://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/i...36_%202010.pdf

Here's one of the sites I read that reported malaria in Costa Rica in the past several years. It appears to use data from the Ministry of Health.

http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/travel/wr...36659&wrtype=6

mlgb: I stand corrected! I was going by a newspaper report which said -- according to the ministry of health, there were no cases of malaria in 2010. I guess that's what happens when you believe what is in the newspaper!

I repeat - people will need to weigh the actual threat of getting malaria against the side effects of taking the medication. Statistically, it's about the same risk as flying.

In addition, you should understand that using insect repellent is not the usual thing for Costa Ricans but if, as a tourist, you use repellent faithfully, you won't have a problem with either dengue or malaria.

Also - keep in mind that the cases of both are in the lower lying areas so really no danger in higher elevations such as Arenal or Monteverde or the Tenorio area.

I am at the point with this where I am trying hard to be rational but the evil twin in me keeps saying - do what you want to do, I don't care anymore.

If I seem a little testy, it's because people keep asking questions about Costa Rica like it is some backwards, poverty-stricken place full of disease. People ask about malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, dengue, cholera, is there whole milk available, do they sell diapers in Costa Rica etc etc so at some point, I tend to get a little prickly. This is my adopted home and I have lived here for many years.

I like to remind people that there have been no recalls of a billion eggs or beef or sprouts or anything else in Costa Rica. That more than 90% of the country's electric is generated NOT using fossil fuels (or nuclear), that there is a 95% literacy rate and a larger percentage of families in Costa Rica have internet access than in the US. Costa Rica also has inexpensive health care for everyone with no "insurance" involved.

Putting away my soapbox now.....

So my husband's doctor has him doing typhoid pills and after talkign to my doctor and reading, I really think that is WAY overkill. My kids were due for hepatitis A vaccines anyway (that is part of the routine vaccinations now in NY). I just don't remember all this vaccination worry when I went ten years ago....but I also didn't have kids so I am definitely more neurotic than I used to be! I guess people need to do what they are comfortable with but I just don't remember any issues at all (and we even hiked on a trail that had cholera warning...go figure)

Last year there was a dengue fever outbreak in the early part of the year in Costa Rica and other parts of Central & South America. Key West even had a few dozen cases.

Dengue mossies are active during the day and live around houses, breeding in puddles and water storage pools. They are not just restricted to low lying swampy areas. Guanacaste had a lot of the cases in the most recent outbreak. There were even several thousand cases in the Central Valley.

Perhaps the Costa Rica news media & government prefer not to report on this issue, in a country where tourism is so important to the economy? Other countries have fumigation and education campaigns underway.

hsmithcr, I know where you're coming from since I leave in Belize part of the year. You're right, people think countries in Central America are at the end of the earth.

I just don't like it when people say 'no cases' of any tropical illness, when it is the tropics. I used to do travel medicine as part of my job.....

mlgb - perhaps it is because you don't KNOW what the Costa Rican government is doing as far as spraying or education - both of which they are doing.

Perhaps you don't know about the gentleman from the municipality where I live who comes around to inspect to see if I have anything that is likely to be a haven for mosquitoes - mostly things with water or things that could hold water. He even asked me how often I changed my dog's water.

You didn't even know that there were malaria cases and are pooh-poohing using insect repellent. I did see mossies from time to time.

Costa Rica has an excellent public health system and I am sure they are doing their best, but I don't see any announcements that the risk of dengue is over.

BTW did they ever make any arrests in the case of the Marin County man who was murdered in Puerto Viejo while relaxing on the beach with his guitar?

I did not see where hsmith pooh-poohed using insect repellent. I believe her post said "In addition, you should understand that using insect repellent is not the usual thing for Costa Ricans but if, as a tourist, you use repellent faithfully, you won't have a problem with either dengue or malaria."

There is a big difference between mosquitoes being around (yes, sometimes they are) and mosquitoes who carry dengue or malaria. If people want to take the malaria meds and go thru the side-effects (even if that area has no reported cases of it), fine more power to them I guess.

Just me, but typhoid? Really? Hmmmm... I have to do some homework on that.

By the way - There are mosquitos in Arenal and Monteverde, so while there may not be as high a risk of Malaria, use good judgment. Use mosquito repellant. Also - if you or the kids do get bites, use a little Neosporin with pain relief to control the itching. My DS' bites seemed to bother him more in CR and Panama than they do here. His scratching caused the bites to get more inflamed than at home also.

Take a bite stick with you too. It's practically straight benzadine or straight ammonia, depending on which kind you buy. We bought/took both.

Good luck and have fun.