Leishmaniasis

[moon girl]

Hello Everyone! As an avid cruiser and a Caribbean and Mexico lover I feel like I need to tell everyone what I have been through since our last cruise in March of this year 2017. We left from Port Canaveral and stopped at Cozumel, Roatan, Belize, and Costa Maya. The cruise was amazing and I have nothing but good to say about our trip and also the ports and the way that we were treated on all of our stops. However....6 weeks after (which is the incubation period) returning home I noticed what appeared to be a sliver type blister on the top of my middle finger. I poked at it thinking I could remove the sliver and nothing happened so I just left it alone. A couple of days after that I started to feel sick like the flu so then I thought that maybe the thing on my finger was a spider bite and went to the doctor. They also thought it was a spider bite, prescribed an antibiotic and sent me on my way. A few days after that all heck broke loose and I was so very sick. I had symptoms of Viral Meningitis and was told to rest, and it would go away. They did do a CT Scan, MRI and blood work but never a lumbar puncture. Anyway I am just barely beginning to feel better as far as the head and neck aches and energy goes from having that. In the mean time of being so sick the sore on my finger began to grow and I started to get other very similar ones on some of my other fingers. A trip to a very diligent Dermatologist who took a biopsy and sent it to the CDC lab to be tested can back positive for Leishmaniasis. I now have these lesions all over both of my hands. In case you don't know what Leishmaniasis is, it is caused from a bite of a sand fly! You do not get this from living or traveling in the USA! (Although I have recently heard of a couple of cases from Texas). It is very prominent in Belize and Honduras, and also in Mexico. I have no idea where I picked it up and the Infectious Disease Dr. that has been treating me said it is very rare to have picked it up on a cruise because you are only in the ports for such a small period of time. It is more commonly seen in Missionaries, Jungle Explorers, etc.,people who spend an extended period of time in the effected areas. I started a treatment that was so expensive and I am so lucky that my insurance covered it, however that medicine is so strong that it made me so very sick! I have discontinued the treatment temporally until I can get my strength back and then I will start it again. Look up Leishmaniasis if you are concerned about getting this. There are 3 forms of it, Visceral,(internal), Mucosal,(in your mouth), and Cutaneous (on your skin). I have the Cutaneous type which is treatable and curable but without proper treatment can turn into the Mucosal type which is much more dangerous. I'm not wanting to scare anyone! I love cruising! We go somewhere every March whether it is a cruise or to an All Inclusive Resort. This has made me so sick for the past 4 months that I just want to let everyone know that it is out there and that it is possible to pick up this type of thing on a while traveling the Carribean and Mexico. They say that using bug repellent with Deet is a good prevention but honestly we were only at these ports during the day and we did not ever see or knowingly get bitten by any bugs. (But obviously I did !)

This is just meant as an FYI not as an expert on this disease, just my experience with it. Please just use caution when traveling and use preventative care!

[mindy2]

Wow, what an awful thing to happen. I recently read a book on an archaeological expedition in the jungles of mainland Honduras. Several members were infected with Leishmaniasis, some more serious than others. Apparently it is a particular sand flea that has this "virus". We travel yearly to Roatan and we use deet often. I've never heard of anyone getting this on Roatan so far. But there is definitely sand fleas there, some areas worse than others. I hope it all works out well for you.

[Txdisgurl]

My exhusband got Leishmaniasis while in Iraq, he and alot of others ended up medivaced back to Walter Reed for IV treatment for 20 days. To complicate matters he ended up getting MRSA while there. I now live in Cozumel and I have not heard of any recent positive cases here.

[moon girl]

I can definitely say that going through this I have learned quite a bit about this parasite and the treatments for it! I honestly don't know if I will ever travel to the Caribbean again and that makes me so sad! If anyone has any questions about this I would be so happy to help if I can. It is a hard thing to find information on because it is so rare, but I am living proof that you can catch it while just on a cruise!