TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Chikungunya update

Just looking to see if anyone has any updates on the virus. We're looking at a January trip to Club O and just parking ourselves on the beach for 5 days. I'm not the paranoid type and I've survived New England Summer's without a sniff of Lyme Disease. However my wife does have arthritis and that's where the concern lies. New to the forum and would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

use OFF and enjoy the island.......the odds of contracting this virus is like getting hit by lightning.....

Chick-v is a mosquito borne disease. Mosquitoes are in good measure a function of rain and standing water. St. Martin has been in a fairly severe drought situation for several months. As of now, the threat from Chick-v is pretty minimal. In the event that there is more rain on island, make sure you use mosquito repellent with DEET and you should be ok.

woops....wrong thread

I got Dengue Fever several years ago which is similar to the one mentioned. We still go every year and use Off with high deet and also spray our room at the Divi as soon as we get there and then have a beer or two and some wine at their pub. (Did not spray room the year I got the Fever with mosquito spray we bought in the market ) Also wipe exposed

skin areas with Bounce dryer sheets and tie one or two to flip flops and baseball hat. It has worked for about 5 years now. We get there tomorrow for 2 weeks. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the advice. Looking forward to getting down there!

I know 3 people from Pointe Pirouette who got hit by lighting then. That said, none of my other aquaintences had any problems.

Agreed, the odds certainly WERE a lot higher than getting hit by lightning, especially for local people. Possibly not for visitors. But now, the odds have to be a lot lower than before.