TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Trip report/Dengue

I just posted this over on the Trip Advisor website….

Hello, just now around to posting a trip report from our trip in January. We spent a week on Orient at the Orient Beach hotel, then went on to St Barts for another week. SXM was wonderful, much improved from our last visit post Irma! When we went on to St Barts, within one day my wife became very ill and we contacted a local Dr. He immediately recognized Dengue symptoms, and long story short, she stayed in bed for four very painful days until we booked early flights home.

We love both islands and were unfortunate that our trip ended early and she became ill, which the symptoms lingered for several weeks.

I don’t understand why there are NO postings on TA about Dengue? I just did a search of this forum and the last post is several years old, when the TTOL forum and other sources reported epidemic levels in late 2023?

The worst part is that once one acquires the virus, symptoms from subsequent infections are worse. At this point I don’t know if I’ll ever get my wife to return to SXM…

So sorry to hear about your wife's situation. Is she OK now? Being a person that is a magnet for mosquitos, thanks for the reminder.

Just for the record, it appears that you did not modify your post from Trip Advisor before you posted it here.

Nothing worse than being sick away from home. I hope
she is doing well, and I can understand her reluctance to visiting SXM again.

Maybe as another heads up, you could list the symptoms.

There is a vaccine for Dengue - got it while i was on active duty in the AirForce - MANY years ago

Wrong

Sunfun--what is wrong? That there is a vaccine for dengue? I didn't think there was, but don't know.

Thank you for the responses...yes she is totally recovered at this point. We left St Barts mid January and it was several weeks of fatigue and generally just not feeling like herself. When the Dr examined her in St Barts, he told us that there was really nothing that could be done other than let it pass. We could give her limited Ibuprofen, but Dengue is known to cause some liver damage so he didn't want her to take much. Others I spoke to on St. Barts agreed that they heard SXM was worse and was having an outbreak, although I have heard of some cases on St. Barts as well.

He said that she would have no appetite for most of the week, and that she would sleep for the most part, but when awake would be in pain and very uncomfortable. He advised that she stay in bed with the shades drawn, and no electronics or TV at all because any light or stimulation would make her pain worse. He was correct on everything. It started on a Sunday and we flew out Thursday but she was still pretty miserable. She slept probably 20 hours per day, but the 4 hours awake were painful with head and body aches.

From my research, the only vaccine available is for children and what's worse, is if an adult gets Dengue then subsequent infections will bring worse symptoms. I'm not a medical professional but the internet information has been pretty consistent. That's why I'm not sure if I'll ever get her back to SXM.

I'm a bit frustrated with the TA forum as I know there were a number of Dengue cases but nothing at all was reported. Also...hard to understand why the island isn't doing some kind of treatment for mosquitos? We have a place in Key West and they had problems years ago with Zika so they are regularly spraying and have completely eradicated the Zika virus. They actually have a Mosquito Control agency...

I hate it but put it on everyday! BUG Spray!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_vaccine

There is a vaccine but whether you should get it is tricky. You have to have had dengue before. If you take without having had dengue, it makes things worse.

The key is early recognition and getting to doctor. wait too long and things can go poorly.

I may be misreading it, but it appears from this and every other source that I've read that the vaccine is only available to children from 9 to 16, those that live in affected areas, and have been previously infected. So I'm not aware of any vaccine available to adults.

"In May 2019, Dengvaxia was approved in the United States as the first vaccine approved for the prevention of dengue disease caused by all dengue virus serotypes (1, 2, 3 and 4) in people ages nine through 16 who have laboratory-confirmed previous dengue infection and who live in endemic areas.[17][6] Dengue is endemic in the US territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.[17]"

Disappointing for sure, it seems like a workable vaccine could have been developed since this Dengue has been around a long time.