TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Chikungunya mosquito

We got a letter from Moorings regarding this mosquito virus. Anyone have any problems? We don't remember having bug problems on the cat but maybe spraying down with bug spray before going ashore?

Thoughts??

Seems to be dying down but quite a few land based folks seemed to get it..me included. I would not worry too much..take normal precautions, especially on land at happy hour when mozzies and no see um's seem to dine..

We just got back a month ago ( 8 of us) and had no problems. BUT, we did use bug juice when we went ashore to make sure. No issues on the boat with bugs.

We were down in November. Used bug spray when we went ashore in the evenings. Not one bug bite (and if anyone's going to get bitten it's me- I'm like a mosquito magnet )

If you visit Sandy Cay and you want to hike the loop path around to the scenic rocky eastern side, take the windward side of the loop (south side, facing Tortola) out to the point and back, do NOT take the north side of the loop which is closer to JVD. We did that several weeks ago. It passes through a swampy lower lying area with tons of mosquitos who will attack you all the way back to the beach!! My wife got about 25 bites!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />

I was down in October - used plenty of bug repellent and was fine.

I spend time in the Malaria belt in Africa. Deet is your best friend! As others have mentioned use lots of Deet and dress properly and you dramatically cut the chances of mosquito born illnesses. I suspect we may see Malaria in the BVI in the near future since its been island hopping from South America.
G

To be clear:
It is only ONE species of mosquito that spreads Chikungunya
It is the same species that spreads Dengue

It is a larger sized mozzie - the size we are familiar with up north. Not the little tiny buggers that wake you in the morning with their infernal buzzing
If your eyes are good - you will see dark-striped legs, & wings

No other mozzie will carry this virus - simple fact

This species bites only during sunlight hours - simple fact
So - if the sun has gone down - no chance of Chik, nor Break-bone (Dengue) - none, zero, nada

Yes - the problem exists
But - no more so than all the other crap that we don't talk about

Thank you all for responding!

Manpot I hope you didn't have the virus for long and feel better now.

I had it bad for only about 5 days..others for weeks..aching limbs..headache...rash..but drank lot of good wine and beer..swam ..walked..sailed..listened to great music..enjoyed the Tortola life and it put it in perspctive..

We were down there last week, and there were a fair amount of skeeters. Mostly of the smaller variety but sometimes hard to tell how large they were during the early morning or near dusk. Lot's on Anegada and Norman as I recall. Members of my group complained about getting "eaten alive" hiking on Sandy Cay. Not many on the boat but it depended on prevailing winds light or heavy and how close in your mooring ball is to land, etc. So far no member of our group has come down with anything. Agree that it's best to use deet (or picaridin if you have trouble with deet). Daily routine on the boat was navy shower, sun screen then insect repellent. Did it religiously every day and repeat as needed during the day, after swimming etc. And because I have quite bad arthritis I elected to try some insect repellent clothing in addition to deet. Pricey but generally worked very well. Btw, if you open the hatch to catch the evening breeze remember to use the screen if your boat has one. My one mistake the first night resulted in a few bites. Below is the "stuff" we used.

http://www.columbia.com/technology-insectblocker/
http://www.haeleum.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-Pr...rds=sawyer+deet
http://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Picaridin-S...awyer+picaridin

Little Bay (sidneys) took care of a BIG mozzie/fly problem from the last time. They had a dumping area that was causing a big moz/fly issue.

we had ZERO fly/moz problems last few weeks. but the winds were basically hellacious the whole time we were down there. and if there were any flying around, they got beaten down by the rain squalls.

i would say...if you see a larger zebra/spotted looking moz, dose the DEET. but I have yet to have to go there in BVI.

We had a crew member come down with it last week 2 days after arriving at Sopers Hole for a sleep aboard. HE HAD 3 DAYS OF severe headaches, body aches, and fever. Tylenol got his fever down and by end of week he was better. Mosquitos were there yesterday as we were checking out, I killed a couple in our cabin loaded with blood. Waiting now to see if I react. Bring your off or take your chances.

Sopers especially around the dock area can be a bad bug area. If sleeping aboard keep the hatches closed and AC on. Deet will prevent 98% of mosquito illnesses if properly used.
G

Curious where the crew member came from prior to joining you ?
Chikungunya needs 2 to 12 days from bite to show up - (usually 3-7 days from infection to showing symptoms)

Heard the other day that a friend who returned recently has it. She had been staying in CGB.

3 days of headache, sweats and fever.....
I've had that - but it was the result of accidentally using 151-proof in place of Cruzan-dark

Yeah, that's what I thought she might have had too. Feeling pretty miserable. You probably ran across Emily at Myetts or The Elm.

We flew down on sat the 7th from NC. Symptoms showed up about 2 days later. Shower and bath house at sopers had quite a few mosquitos in it and even with the ac on the boat they were coming in as the doors were opened frequently on the boat.

Living in the BVI on a sailboat for the last 4 months, got very few mosquito bites, used deet, etc and got Chikungunya.

Had the fever for a couple of days then the aching joints- luckily it hasnt slowed me down much, the aching is usually in the middle of the night, wrists, hands, knees, ankles--- have a had a few miserable nights- I take ibuprophen or advil and that helps...