... Costa Rica General Information ...

... Costa Rica's Health System ...
by Infocostarica Staff

Costa Rica is possibly the most sanitary of Central American nations. Tap water in San José is safe to drink but you may wish to employ caution elsewhere, although simply asking locals is the water is potable might be enough caution. If you are hiking and camping, either drink boiled water or have iodine tablets available. If the taste perturbs you, add a bit of powdered drink mix or squeeze a lemon or lime into your water glass or bottle. Take fundamental precautions such as washing your hands and pocketknife before peeling fruit.

No immunizations are needed for traveling to Costa Rica, although it is always better to be safe than sorry. You may wish to get a gamma globulin shot to stave off hepatitis A, but the incidence of the disease is low here. Much more common than dysentery is diarrhea (easily remedied by over-the-counter medicines), the symptoms of which include stomachache and liquid defecation. Malaria is nonexistent except near Panama on the Caribbean coast and in the Sarapiquí and Limón areas- an effect of poor health practices on the banana plantations. If you plan to spend a long time in these areas, prevent an occurrence with a dose of chloroquine (marketed in Costa Rica as Aralen) and begin two weeks before your arrival. Keep in mind that these mosquitoes bite mainly at night. Outbreaks of dengue fever have occurred sporadically since 1994, but this mosquito-borne viral disease caused by microorganism, is transmitted to humans from animals through contaminated water. Again, no cases have been reported of infected visitors.

There are plenty of farmacias around should you require medicine, but most medications are imported (largely from Europe and the US) and expensive. Costa Rica ´s health system is reputed to be among the world ´s best. Hospitals and clinics in Costa Rica use sterilized equipment, you may want to bring sealed hypodermic syringes anyway. HIV and AIDS (SIDA) is present in the country but it is not prevalent, common cautions, such as condoms are a wise idea, especially in some of the popular beach towns. Not all the condoms sold in Costa Rica are you find at home, but there are some imported well-known brands in the market too.

In most rural and urban areas, in case of medical emergency, the local red cross has ambulances ready to transport patients to hospital.  These ambulance do not charge for their service.  The 911 telephone emergency system has been operating for a while and works fine in case of emergency.