Dengue fever in Bali

Dengue fever is a tropical disease spread by mosquitoes. I usually hear about cases in Jakarta, but not in Bali. Barrie’s site, PlanetMole, mentions recent cases in Yogyakarta in Central Java.

Recently in Bali there have been a couple of cases in Kuta, the victims getting to an advanced state because they didn’t seek medical attention immediately. A friend of mine who lives in Sanur, has a mother in law who is not feeling well right now. She is weak, has a fever and bone pains, the classic symptoms. Hopefully medication will set her straight. Regarding malaria and dengue fever, most people I talk to are not overly concerned. Lombok has a reputation for being a malaria pit, but not Bali.

In 1993 I spent a week in Nias, an island off of Sumatra with one of the wrost strain of malaria. Unknown to me of course, the dangers seemed non existant. I’d sit around all day just wearing shorts. Fortunately I had no problems that time, or when I did a 10 day jungle hike on Siberut, an island in the Mentawai’s.

Here in Bali I leave the window open, and burn a coil 10 ft outside the door. With the fan it does the trick.