Closing The Chapter On Bali Series: Be Cautious With Tropical Sickness

I'm lying awake in my dorm bed. Ugh, I'm too old for this. The first night I had the top bunk, which was impossible to maneuver, and tonight... I lie awake, middle of the night, to one man snoring above us and the other rummaging through his bags for the past hour at 4am. Ugh. It's not worth the $15 saved. No more. I'm so close to moving to the couch.

The silver lining... lying here, awake... I am thinking and reflecting on my experience in Bali. I've decided to write a short series of posts for the next few days highlighting some of the odd or notable experiences I had during my time there! I'll begin with....

A Brush with Dengue Fever at the IGF, Nusa Dua
So there were a few days during the Internet Governance Forum, where I became quite ill. I'd pushed quite hard the week before and usually, as past experience has shown, I get sick after workshops like these. So, when I started to feel a bit of a fever coming on I thought nothing. Mind over matter. I can push through. But.. it got worse. The fever went up, I lost my appetite, chills, body aches.. you name it. oh! And the aches! I hurt to walk down stairs it was so painful! I had to rest for 2 days... off and on.. while attending the conference sporadically / trying to be social.

It was until the third day I was much MUCH better i.e. I could start drinking again! ;) But I started to notice an odd rash. Little red dots... all over every inch of my body. Very odd. I never get rashes!

It wasn't until I arrived in Balian that I found out what I really had. It was a little bug called Chikicunya (a variant of Dengue)! Now, I don't feel so bad for taking that time when I did to rest! In hindsight I probably shouldn't have been so hard on myself and just let my body be sick and heal. Anyway, probably the aspects key to the virus include:

• it's a new strain of Dengue Fever to Africa / Asia i.e. travel doctors in Canada and other countries may not know it exists
• There is no treatment
• It's transmitted by mosquitos
• There are little to no long term consequences, although symptoms maybe extend for months to years
• Symptoms include fever, headache, rash, loss of appetite, chills, and aching Aching ACHING joint pain! Like bone crushing joint pain. All of these symptoms I experienced.. especially the bone crushing. Wow.
• It lasts typically 2-7 days
• I took prescribed antiinflamatories along with Tylenol / Advil on day 1-3... and I think that's what saved me. My friend in Balian who also caught the virus and she said she was in excruciating pain for 3 days
• Neither of us have experienced any long term after affects from the virus

Stay tune for the next post: Tantra or Evil Spirits?!