Your Health In Costa Rica
Pharmacies With 24 Hour Service
Almost all kind of medicine in available without prescription in Costa Rica. Besides medicine,
the pharmacies also sell hairspray, make-up, magazines and other products. It can be hard to find lens cleaning
liquid. Pharmacists in Costa Rica are authorised to prescribe medicine and to give injections.
Pharmacies with 24-hour-service:
Farmacia el Hospital - Phone 222-0985
Farmacia Clinica Catolica - Phone 283-6616
Farmacia Clinica Biblica - Phone 257-5252
Many other pharmacies with regular business hours offer delivery service to your home, if
you order by phone. They take a delivery fee depending on the distance to your home.
Emergency numbers (without guarantee, may change)
Red Cross: 118
Police: 117
Fire Brigade: 25700
Poisoning: 22128
Criminal Police: 2552
English Speaking Physicians
Eye Care
Dr. Thomas Quesada Vargas, c 22 a central y 2, Tel. 233-2301
Chirurgy
Dr. Miguel Castro Esquivel, Ciudad Quesada, Clinica Belen, Tel. 460-1885
Pediatrician
Dr. Walter Kitzing Glatzel, c 20 a central y 2, Tel. 221-2292
Internists
Dr. Jorge Quesada Vargas, c 22 y 24 a 2, Tel. 221-4545
Orthopedists
Dr. Werner Steinvorth Jimenez, c central y 1 a 14, Tel. 222-1010
Dentists
Dr. Georg Steinvorth Jimenez, c central a 4, Tel. 221-0525
Dr. Walter Wohlstein, c 20 y 22 a central, Tel. 222-0363
Dra. Beatriz Ott Schwaiger, Escazu, Tel. 289-6181
Poisonous Animals And Plants
Sure you have seen tarantulas, snakes and scorpions before. All these cute animals exist in Costa Rica.
When a German friend, who lives in Costa Rica, showed me a scorpion in an empty glass of marmalade, I could
hardly believe that he caught it in his living room. However, when I saw some dangerous species under a stone
I had turned around during the search for a treasure, I changed my opinion.
It depends in which area you will live and which kind of house you have. The house of my friend is made out
of wood and pervious to insects. Spider from the tarantula family can be found in his sink once in a while.
Tarantulas cause burning and itching and maybe a paralysis, but they are never deadly. However, calm down!
You need a lot of bad luck to get damaged from one of these insects. And even if it a snake will bite you,
there is a big chance that it is not poisonous. They bite only for defense reasons.
And if it still should happen:
· Stay calm and damm up the blood
· Desinfect wound and keep body part quiet
· Try to get transported lieing down
· Drink, if you want, but never drink alcohol
· Important: Note time of first aid as well as size and colour of the snake
Steps like sucking, burning or ice on the wound bring complications why we can not recommend them.
Scorpions are night hunters. They are very sensitive to sun radiation and would die after a short while. This is
why they hide during day under stones or in caves. After sunset they leave their home and go hunting for food.
Never walk barefoot at night. If you are outdoors, use good and high shoes. Only a few kinds of scorpions are
extremely dangerous. Spider- and scorpion bites most times are less dangerous than a snake bite.
Different kind of frogs, for example a small red one, are poisonous and should not be touched. If it should happen
by accident, nothing will happen, as long as you do not touch you mucous membranes of eye, mouth or nose which
take the poison. Just wash good and it is forgotten.
Also different plants can be poisonous. After a jungle trip, do not lick your fingers without washing them good!
Resist unknown fruits, even if they look very appetizing. Always sash your hands good and keep them away from
mucous membranes.
Medical Facilities
Health Ministry
Ministerio de SaIud - Phone 223-0333 - Apartado 10123 - San Jose
Hospitals
Calcleron Guardia, c 17 a 9 - Phone 224-4133 - social facility
San Juan de Dios, Paseo Colon c 14 - Phone 222-0166 - social facility;
Hospital de Ninos - children hospital, Paseo Colon, San Jose
Private Clinics
Clinica Americana, c ctl a 14 - Phone 222-1010
Private hospital, which does not acept credit cards nor insurance;
Clinica Biblica, c ctl a 14 - Phone 223-0422
Private clinic offers: first aid, mammograms, cardiology, pathology, and more
INS-Insurance and some credit cards acepted
Clinica Catolica, Guadalupe - Phone 225-9O95
Private clinic with first aid-, respiration-therapy, ultrasonic, and more. INS-Insurance and most credit cards
accepted
Hospital Bello Horizonte, Bello Horizonte, Phone 289-5480
Private hospital, offers plastic surgery and regular surgery, x-ray and ultrasonic
Health Insurance
People with a permission to stay in the country can get health insurance by the "Caja Costarricense de Seguro
SociaI - CCSS" for a small amount of money, which also covers all natives. Tourists can get an insurance, which
covers medical and dental first aid. It is available at the "International Cultural Exchange Organization".
People with this insurance can go to the hospitals of the government. It costs about US$ 30 per month. For more
information, write to: Apdo, 887-1011, San José or send a fax to:
Carlos Cortes 222-7867 Phone: 257-0880.
The "Instituto National de Seguro" (INS), which is the governmental insurance, offers insurance for everyone,
that covers help after an accident or because of an acute disease and handicap after an accident. The insurance
costs US$ 100 per year, there is a discount, if more people are insured.
This INS-insurance pays 80 % of the hospital costs, the medicine and the exams. People over an age of 70 do not
get accepted. If you buy the insurance, you get a card and a book with all addresses, where you can go in case
you need the service. You have to pay first and the insurance returns your money. If you have further questions,
ask the National Insurance Institute for the INS plan.
We recommend that tourist get an insurance in the country of their home. In case of an emergency, you pay here
and get your money back at home without problems. In case you do not have enough to pay, call your embassy.
Tropical Diseases And Their Prevention
Attention: This page has only been written to inform people, which like to enjoy extreme tourism far away from
human trails. If you come as a "regular" tourist, many of the information provided is not important for you.
Do you have to be tropicalized?
Depending on where you stay, you have to be tropicalized. However, every person who is organically and
physically healthy, is also tropicalized. There can be restrictions in case of chronical heart and circulation
problems, diseases of liver, kidneys or lungs and the digestive system. Also diabetes limits your tropicalization.
This advise is written for people who live at the hot coastal areas of the Pacific and the Caribbean, since the
height rises fast to the center of the country. Each 100 yards rise temperature for about 0.7 degrees Celsius.
In San José and the whole central valley, climate is more like a permanent spring, which sometimes reaches the
conditions of a hot European summer. You should not have any problems, if you stay there.
Some recommendations
Fortunately, Malaria, which is one of the most spread tropical diseases, does not appear in Costa Rica,
why we recommend not to do a Malaria-Prophylaxis, which can cause side effects also. If you stay longer than
2 weeks, just bring a medicine to be able to cure the illness, in case of an infection. However, suitable
medicine is available in all pharmacies of the country. Also other tropical diseases got really seldom because
of the good hygiene conditions and an excellent health system.
If you plan on staying in the tropics for a longer time, we recommend to get protection against Hepatitis A and
Hepatitis B by the new medication called TWINRIX.
Also the common injections against Tetanus and Polio should be up to date, because in tropical climate,
viruses and bacterias grow rapidly and are more aggressive than at home.
If you watch some important instructions, you have done much to prevent diseases:
· always wear light clothes in darkness, which covers the whole body
· use insect repellent like for example Autan
· sleep under a mosquito web (put under mattress)
· burn insect coils, if there are many
Amebasis
Amebas are single cell, microscopic organs, which produce a clinical picture with slimy diarrhea and strong body
cramps. Diarrhea is often bloody. The mucous membrane of the colon is infected and abscesses can develop. First
focus of infection is food and drink water, but also flies can transfer the amebas to the food. An amebas liver
abscess is the most dangerous complication of this disease. The pathogenes can be found in the stool as well as
by a blood test. A doctor should watch the treatment.
The Leishmaniosis
The pathogenes of the leishmaniosis, a local skin infection, is Leishmania Tropica.
It gets transferred to humans by the sand fly. The disease produces knots and abscesses on the skin. It can be
proved by skin tests. Treatment is difficult and needs a long time. In most cases, the disease even heals without
treatment within one year by leaving scars. One of my friends brought this illness as a
souvenir from Costa Rica.
Several doctors in Germany could not identify the disease. Only with the help of the tropical institute, the right
diagnosis was done and the illness could be healed within 2 weeks. However, the tropical institute said that
catching this illness during a vacation was like winning some millions in the lottery, so panic is absolutely
unnecessary.
Leprosy
Leprosy spread by the leprosy bacterias. It is a chronic illness of the skin, the nerves and the mucous membranes
of the nose. The disease covers country areas of the tropics but also parts of southern Europe.
It gets transferred by long tight contact through nose secretion. First signs of the illness appear after months
or even years. A therapy is difficult. An injection is being tested.
Chagas (Sleeping Sickness)
Gets transfered by the bug Triatoma and is caused by Trypanosomes. The incubation period is about 14 days. After
that, people get fever and swollen lymph nodes. A therapy takes a long time and an injection is getting tested now.
Malaria
The kind of Malaria that occurred in the last years in Costa Rica, was the Malaria Tertiana, which most times
progresses benign. It most time starts with long shivering fit. Body temperature increases to about 104 Fahrenheit
and decreases under dripping sweat to normal temperature. After that, a fever rhythm of 48 hours
develops. The
pathogenes, called Plasmodium Vivax get transferred by the Anopheles fly, known as a kind of mosquito. The
incubation period is about 2 weeks.
Yellow Fever
This disease does also not exist in Costa Rica, but gets explained, since it is a serious disease which could be
brought into the country anytime from the other latin american countries. The virus gets transferred by
mosquitoes.
The incubation period is about 3 to 5 days. The disease can progress almost uncovered, but also strong and deadly.
If a person has passed an infection, they are protected for the rest of the life. There is an injection that
protects for 10 years and only authorized places are allowed to give them.
Bilharziosis
The panthogenes of this disease are worms, the so called couple-angle. Snails, which live in the water, are
responsible for the existence of this illness. They sort out larvas, which swim in the water and are able to
drill themselves through human skin. After entering, they produce itching infections on the skin. If they are
in the blood circulation of a human, they go to the veins of the liver, where they
develop to sexual maturity.
After that, they move in pairs to other organs (area of bladder or bowel) to place their eggs. Especially standing
water is the hotbed of the snails, but also rivers and lagoons with sweet water. The illness gets proven by a test
of blood, urine or stool and can be healed with different medicine. The disease does not exist in Costa Rica this
moment, but got explained, since it could appear any time.
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From volcanic muds to geothermal hot springs, Costa Rica's spas are amongst the best in the world.
