www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Over the last week members have been contacting me about the Zika virus. At this time, I do not think the virus is a serious risk for men traveling to Costa Rica. However, the following is a summary of the relevent news.

On January 26th, the first reported case of Zika in Costa Rica was identified in a man who had recently traveled from the South American nation of Colombia.

http://www.ticotimes.net/2016/01/26/fir ... costa-rica

At this time, health officials are investigating the possibility that one case of the Zika Virus was transmitted by mosquitoes in the Guanacaste region of Costa Rica.

http://news.co.cr/us-tourist-falls-ill- ... ica/44372/

The mosquito that carries the virus, Aedes aegypti is found as far north as Florida and the Gulf Coast. Although it was discovered in the Zika forest in Uganda in 1947 and is common in Africa and Asia, it did not begin spreading widely in the Western Hemisphere until last May, when an outbreak occurred in Brazil.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016 ... .html?_r=0

Brazil’s Health Ministry estimates between 500,000 and 1.5 million people are infected with Zika in the country.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/worl ... /79791768/

Overall, Colombia has recorded more than 20,500 confirmed cases of Zika infection.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/f ... s-patients

According to the United States, Center for Disease Control (CDC) the Zika virus is spread to people through mosquito bites. The most common symptoms of Zika virus disease are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis (red eyes). The illness is usually mild with symptoms lasting from several days to a week. Severe disease requiring hospitalization is uncommon.

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/index.html

According to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) an outbreak of Zika virus in Brazil led to reports of Guillain-Barré syndrome and pregnant women giving birth to Babi*s with birth defects and poor pregnancy outcomes.

In response to the health threat, the CDC has issued an alert recommending “that all pregnant women consider postponing travel to areas where Zika virus transmission is ongoing”.

http://www.cdc.gov/zika/pregnancy/index.html

Dallas County, Texas, health officials, announced a case of the virus involving a patient who had sex with someone who had recently returned from Venezuela infected with the mosquito-borne virus. The CDC confirmed this as first known case of the virus being locally acquired in the continental United States in the current outbreak.

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/02/healt ... act-texas/

Of course, pregnant women should avoid areas where Zika is known to be present... such as the United States of America, where Zika is known to be present. Although there is no proof whatsoever, Zika has been "linked" to birth defects.

Just the latest edition of fear-mongering, sponsored by the CDC.

Although there have only been two confirmed cases of Zika in Costa Rica so far, both cases have been confirmed to have been "imported" from other countries.

Also, Costa Rica's stellar disease prevention network is already gearing up to prevent the importation of Zika, just as it did for yellow fever two years ago. This is Costa Rica... a country with HALF the infection rate of HIV/AIDS as the USA. Pregnant women should be fleeing the USA for Costa Rica. Their chances are much better here.

um ... Costa Rica ranked 89 out of 133 countries, according to UNICEF ... it trails behind the Philippines by a factor of 4! To compare anything to the USA (a magnet country) as potential local infection growth cannot stand scrutiny.

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/rawdata_2155.txt

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bypassin' kinky, and usin' the whole chicken!!!

But it's relevant to this message board and subject at hand...

Costa Rica has HALF of the Adult Prevalence of HIV/AIDS as the USA...


http://www.who.int/hiv/HIVCP_CRI.pdf


In the context of the CRT message board, are we telling women from the USA to NOT travel to Costa Rica, because Costa Rica is more ridden with disease?

You need to learn to discern between apples and oranges. The United States has a large INFLOW of carriers that TAKE UP RESIDENCE. This does not mean your chances of contracting the disease is higher in the USA, as you are alluding to.

And comparing the P4P environments between the USA and CR, the chances of contracting HIV in CR are much, much higher by proxy than they are in the USA. Statistics can be misleading if you don't look behind the numbers to see what is making them.

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bypassin' kinky, and usin' the whole chicken!!!

Actually Bashful you have to look even deeper when making such a statement (which is total untrue). See, over 90% of AIDS cases in Costa Rica are in the gay community. There are 11 cases of males having the virus in Costa Rica for every one women. In new cases, the difference is even greater with 14 new cases for males for every 1 female. About 72% of ALL cases in Costa Rica are male-to-male transmission. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8339112

Considering the AIDS rate is .3% and 90% are men, that doesn't leave many women effected (3 of every 10,000 if I did that math right).

Also, Costa Rica is one of the only countries in the world where the antivirus regime for AIDS is given to EVERY person affected. This regime significantly lowers the chances of passing it along.

Sorry, but knowing the kind of women who do P4P in the U.S. versus the kind of women who do it in Costa Rica combined with the incredibly low rate of infection among women here, the overall incredible rarity of AIDS here in general and the difference in medical care girls in P4P in the U.S. versus here receive, I'd guess the statistical odds of getting AIDS from P4P in Costa Rica is almost non-existent.

That said, it can still happen so I'd wrap it up every time...

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The only thing that matters is happiness in all it forms...

But it's relevant to this message board and subject at hand...

Costa Rica has HALF of the Adult Prevalence of HIV/AIDS as the USA...


http://www.who.int/hiv/HIVCP_CRI.pdf


In the context of the CRT message board, are we telling women from the USA to NOT travel to Costa Rica, because Costa Rica is more ridden with disease?[/quote

Please, we don't need anymore gringas in CR. We flee the US in order to escape them.

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" Omit no happy hour that may give furtherance to our expedition."