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Belize Nightmare


crisp1

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One reason we chose the Miracle for our upcoming cruise was the great photos taken by an associate of my wife on a recent trip to Belize ( not a cruise). Last night dw came home and told what happened to her associates husband the day before.

He woke up with excrutiating pain in his thigh, so thought it best to see a doctor immediately. After answering some questions about places he had been to recently, he was told that he had a Botfly larvae in his leg and it would have to be cut out ( all is well now)

As soon as I heard this tale, I googled the botfly, and this is the top tale

http://www.vexman.com/botfly.htm

 

As soon as I started to read this, I started to squirm - larvae in the man's scrotum! Now my wife swears she won't get off the ship. I'm thinking about purchasing a case of deet, and wearing mosquito netting from head to toe. I certainly will not go without undies ;)

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When we went to Belize last May we made sure we had a bug spray with deet. We sprayed ourselves before we got off the ship and carried the spray with us for additional applications. Our group of 14 people did not have any problems with botfly larve. It is a great port to visit as long as you take precautions..tell your wife that there have been others that have not had any problems. Half of our group did the airboat tour and half did the zoo. We all had great experiences on the island.

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Reread the article. It says it it an extremely rare occurance. Do you avoid the woods because of Lyme Disease? Do you avoid US mosquitoes because of West Nile Disease? They are extremely rare too. Yes it's gross, but it's cureable. So go, enjoy yourself. I bet that 20 years from now you won't regret seeing Belieze. But you will regret NOT seeing it.

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One reason we chose the Miracle for our upcoming cruise was the great photos taken by an associate of my wife on a recent trip to Belize ( not a cruise). Last night dw came home and told what happened to her associates husband the day before.

He woke up with excrutiating pain in his thigh, so thought it best to see a doctor immediately. After answering some questions about places he had been to recently, he was told that he had a Botfly larvae in his leg and it would have to be cut out ( all is well now)

As soon as I heard this tale, I googled the botfly, and this is the top tale

http://www.vexman.com/botfly.htm

 

As soon as I started to read this, I started to squirm - larvae in the man's scrotum! Now my wife swears she won't get off the ship. I'm thinking about purchasing a case of deet, and wearing mosquito netting from head to toe. I certainly will not go without undies ;)

 

Your wife isn't realizing the whole story .. where did the husband go when he was in Belize ? How long was he there,

When you get off the ship you are not in the jungle / rain forest... There are not swarms of bugs flying around....

 

I went on the miracle, did a taxi tour of the city of Belize and I can't wait to go back !

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Your wife isn't realizing the whole story .. where did the husband go when he was in Belize ? How long was he there' date='

When you get off the ship you are not in the jungle / rain forest... There are not swarms of bugs flying around....

 

I went on the miracle, did a taxi tour of the city of Belize and I can't wait to go back ![/quote']

 

I, for one, will keep my little buddies well covered while in Belize.

 

Mark T

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I, for one, will keep my little buddies well covered while in Belize.

 

Mark T

Despite being a card-carrying member of the ETDC, I would appreciate it if you would keep your little buddies covered at all times :eek: (even on the F-deck).

 

I, too, made a stop in Belize. I hiked through the rainforest and tubed down a river. Nothing bit me, not even the HUGE, MOST LIKELY POISONOUS MAN-EATING SNAKE we saw by the river.

 

Sorry, just couldn't resist starting another rumor.:D

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I also saw all this information about the botfly before we went to Belize last year. I was armed with bug spray when we went on a cave tubing excursion expecting to see all kinds of bugs and insects.

 

Well, we didn't see ANY bugs, spiders, or insects of any kind during the walk through the rain forest or on our paddle down the river. It wasn't till we were eating a nice lunch in a screened restaurant that we saw a few flies.

 

Even with bug spray on at home I get eaten alive by the mosquitoes.

 

Cave tubing was the greatest experience we have had on an excursion and was well worth the risk.

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That's just plain gross!! I've been to Belize twice, once to Goff's Caye and once on the River Wallace and Altun Ha ruins. I have also visited Costa Rica and Panama as well as other ports and have never had a problem, neither has my dh.

Tell your dw to go visit Belize and enjoy the cruise!!!

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I'm sure it could happen in other ports of call too. Not likely to happen, and to use that as the one reason to not get off the ship it makes me wonder if this person wanted to see Belize in the first place. I read all about a botfly experience on the boards some time back and it this seems like it could get blown out of proportion. Do your research, take preventative steps and enjoy the ports. God knows there are other things that could go wrong that are more likely to happen than becoming a host to botfly larva.

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I'm sure it could happen in other ports of call too. Not likely to happen, and to use that as the one reason to not get off the ship it makes me wonder if this person wanted to see Belize in the first place.

Belize is the reason why we chose this cruise. Yes I am guilty of not doing any research about the possibilty of being a host to some insect. I never used botfly, host or parasite in the search box. Instead used words like ruins, cave tubing, snorkeling, and for some reason botfly was never mentioned in any of those threads:)The story is true. This couple was there for a week, spent most of their time at the beach. On further research, most people will feel the larva much earlier than our friend, and there are simple ways to remove it without surgery. We will get off the ship in Belize, and we will take precautions.

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...The story is true. This couple was there for a week, spent most of their time at the beach. On further research, most people will feel the larva much earlier than our friend, and there are simple ways to remove it without surgery. We will get off the ship in Belize, and we will take precautions.

 

Oh I believe you that this is a true story. Like I said, I've read of it happening before. But my point was that I've spent lots of time in Belize (relatively speaking) and some of that time I did go to the interior jungle areas but nobody in the group I traveled with had any problems whatsoever. There are loads of other things that are more realistically actual risks that could cause her to be alarmed...Mosquito borne illnesses, wild animals carrying disease (just a reminder not to try to pet monkeys while you're there!!) I do hope you enjoy your time in Belize. It really does have a lot of natural beauty if you get away from the bigger city! Bring your bug spray.

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Talk about timing !!! After reading all the comments about botfly I am definitely taking bug spray and am trying not to think too much about it (after all it is supposed to be rare, and there are so many things that we can worry over just in our normal lives). Then I just walked into the room where my kids had "Animal Planet" on the TV. They were counting down the top 10 parasites in an episode called "eaten alive".... and were showing #2, the botfly !!!!

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We are taking the Carnival Beach Break excursion in Belize, week after next. Do the cruise lines warn you of such dangers?

 

I doubt it. They don't warn you about the possibility of blood-bourne diseases passed through mosquitoes, either. It is really not a common thing. Many more people get injured on jetskis or parasailing and they do tell you it's not advised that do those things!

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  • 1 year later...
Despite being a card-carrying member of the ETDC, I would appreciate it if you would keep your little buddies covered at all times :eek: (even on the F-deck).

 

I, too, made a stop in Belize. I hiked through the rainforest and tubed down a river. Nothing bit me, not even the HUGE, MOST LIKELY POISONOUS MAN-EATING SNAKE we saw by the river.

 

Sorry, just couldn't resist starting another rumor.:D

 

 

Hello Timmy...

 

You're kidding about the snake, right?!?!?

I hope so!!!!:(:confused::(

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Hello Timmy...

 

You're kidding about the snake, right?!?!?

I hope so!!!!:(:confused::(

 

You are going to a jungle. Alligators, snakes, insects, spiders, tarantulas, leopards, wild monkeys and human beings live there. The big snake (Boa constrictor pr the anaconda) is a non-poisonous snake.

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