Swimming-Is it safe?

[+ Lucky]

Guys, I have been sent to Rio for further training as well as updated techniques in cultural interaction. The escort of the year will be chosen while I am gone, nice people will post, mean things might be said, but all in all, life will go on without me.

I have had a very difficult time deciding between the gold lame' or the crushed red velvet thong, and have decided to wear my old swim suit.

They don't call it the world wide web for nothing, so I will know if anyone says anything bad about me!

Thanks to all those who gave me Rio advice, I will provide a full report.

Lucky

[sdg]

Now I understand how you got your name!

 

sdg

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

Lucky,

 

I'll catch this spear for you... and you preside over the Escorts of the Year festivities if you like -- inlcludes a overnight with the winner, gratis, ------ that is if you can talk them into it. :+

[Guest Piltdown Man]

>Guys, I have been sent to Rio for further training as well

>as updated techniques in cultural interaction.

 

Are you talking about entering the country illegally by swimming across the Rio? It's probably not advisable. La Migra agents are all crack shots. Plus I hear there are stocked alligators swimming randomly about the muddy border. Then there are the whirlpools. Definitely not safe.

[Guest cp8036]

Lucky,

 

My medical background, albeit limited, suggests that swimming can be unsafe. You can make swimming safer by using a dental dam.

[Guest showme43]

You're probably more likely to catch a turd in the face "swimming" off the beaches of Rio than from "rimming".

 

Oh...I didn't just go there did I????

 

:+

Rick

[Guest JT]

For starter, Schistsomiasis! :*

 

Anyway, life is full of taking risks. Are they measured risks? Managable risks? So go and enjoy! Good luck (or do you need it)! ;-)

 

 

JT

[trilingual]

You won't get schistosomiasis swimming in the ocean. It's a fresh-water disease. It's true there are times the water on the Rio beaches is polluted, but it's posted. Just look for the signs at the life-guard stations. If it says "Improprio" stay out of the water. Also avoid any stretch of the beach where you see a "lingua negra" or black tongue of sewage runoff. These happen at times when the the storm sewers overflow, but they're quite limited and don't affect the entire beach by any means. The local authorities are quite aware that the beaches are Rio's crown jewels, and do everything they can to maintain them well.

 

I'm sure everyone in Rio will be disappointed about your not wearing the thongs, but they'll probably grin and bear it. Don't forget to consider any of your Rio discoveries for Escort of the Year 2002!

[Guest JT]

>You won't get schistosomiasis swimming in the ocean. It's a

>fresh-water disease.

 

Well, you're right. But I've never said that it can be acquired by swimming in the ocean. Plus, schistosomiasis is known to be prevalent in Brazil.

 

FYI. The following is a recent study in Brazil entitled "Freshwater Snails and Schistosomiasis Mansoni in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: I - Metropolitan Mesoregion"

http://www.dbbm.fiocruz.br/www-mem/96sup/3x.html

 

In the "Results" section, it states, "The results of the parasitological survey from 1996 to the first trimester of 2000 are shown in Table III. In Rio de Janeiro City, the parasitological survey was performed in three localities recognised as potential transmission sites. In the locality of Santa Cruz, where stool examination began in 1996, 12 positive cases were found in that year, 8 in 1997, 4 in 1998, 15 in 1999 and 0 in 2000. Vargem Grande was the second locality studied and, 33 positive cases were detected in 1998, 44 in 1999 and 1 in 2000. In the locality of Alto da Boa Vista 36 were recorded in 1999 and 16 in 2000."

 

 

JT

[Traveller]

I body surf every day I'm in Rio, but then again, you have to have blood to get diseases.

 

Later.

 

PS. The only danger in the water is the rip tides, and half the fun on the beach is watching yet another hapless touron being hoisted into the cage and helicoptered off.

[Guest CraigSF39]

>I body surf every day I'm in Rio,

 

oh you must be so cool and rich, thanx for letting us know

 

>but then again, you have

>to have blood to get diseases.

 

i pray you get them, you deserve them sicko

 

>PS. The only danger in the water is the rip tides, and half

>the fun on the beach is watching yet another hapless touron

>being hoisted into the cage and helicoptered off.

 

id put you in one of those cages and shot anthrax filled misiles into your head and your boyfrends big nose.

[trilingual]

Oh, dear, CraigSF39 must be off his meds! Otherwise, what would bring on this effusion?

 

Yeah, schistosomiasis is a fresh-water problem. I guess it's present in Brazil, although it's more prevalent in Africa. Don't go swimming in Lake Malawi, and if you were thinking about cruising down the Nile in the royal barge, like Cleopatra, don't gracefully trail your hand (or other appendages) in the water. Schistosomes burrow through the skin to infect their human hosts.

 

The Rio neighborhoods mentioned in that report are mostly in poor areas where people may bathe or do laundry in streams, and where tourists never go. The overall numbers of infections during the survey period are actually fairly low, considering the metro area population (about 12 million). The lesson here is that it's probably not a good idea to bathe under waterfalls or drink from streams if you should take a nature trek in the Tijuca Forest, Rio's enormous forest reserve national park in the mountains above the city.

[trilingual]

P.S. --

 

You won't get schistosomiasis from ocean swimming, but there are other possible risks. If there aren't any reasons why you shouldn't, before traveling to a country like Brazil it's a good idea to get a hepatitis vaccination and immunization for typhoid. The latter is now given orally, I believe, and is much less obnoxious than the shots used to be. (Can't begin to tell you how much torture they were as a kid, when we had to get them in Mexico with boosters every few years!) If you haven't had a tetanus shot in the last ten years, you should get a booster on that, too.

 

You don't really need yellow fever shots or malaria prophylaxis unless you're going to jungle areas. If you are going there, the yellow fever shot isn't a big deal (at least when I took it I had less reaction than to a flu shot) and it's good for ten years. The risk of catching yellow fever isn't high, but there was an outbreak this year in a remote rural area of Minas Gerais. Follow the instructions about the malaria pills religiously, including continuing to take the pills for the prescribed period after you get home. If you do come down with fever/chills after you return home, be sure to tell your doctor you've been in the tropics and could have been exposed to malaria.

 

The same mosquito species that transmits malaria also transmits dengue fever, which is a viral disease with symptoms similar to malaria. (Malaria is a parasitic disease.) There is no preventative vaccine for dengue, and it IS something you can catch in Rio, especially during their summer, so take insect repellent (there's also sun block lotion that includes repellent) and wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts, especially at dusk, to minimize exposed skin. The city sprays, and I've actually not seen many mosquitoes in town, but if you go to the Tijuca forest, for example, there will be more insect life. If you do catch dengue, it can be unpleasant but not something to panic about if it's the first time you've had it. Unfortunately, if you catch it again the odds are increased that it'll turn into the hemorragic form, which is serious stuff. So it's best to try to avoid ever getting it in the first place. If you're lodging somewhere out in the country or in the North/Northeast where there are mosquito nets over your bed, use them!

 

In places like the forest, or the park at Iguaçu Falls, there are also some really vicious little no-see-ums called "borrachudos" that leave long-lasting, very itchy bites and can zero in on a gringo from miles away! Again, long pants/sleeves and good repellent are important. Like mosquitoes, the borrachudos also tend to be worst during early morning and dusk.

 

And those are Trilingual's Rio health tips for careful travelers!

[Guest Tampa Yankee]

Thanks Tri,

 

Think I'll stick to the baths and the beaches. :-)

[trilingual]

Then bring along some of your favorite fungicide, too. No matter how hard they work at keeping the baths clean (and they do) I always seem to pick up a touch of athlete's foot if I don't use some fungicidal ointment or powder regularly after vaporizing. . .