The Social Security System (Caja) saw more than 110,000 consultations and treated almost 50,500 people infected with dengue last year, the Caja told the press yesterday.

The Social Security System (Caja) saw more than 110,000 consultations and treated almost 50,500 people infected with dengue last year, the Caja told the press yesterday.

Eight people died in 2007 from dengue hemorrhagic fever.

In a press statement, Rosa Climent, head of medicine at the Caja, stressed the urgency for strengthening efforts to combat the mosquito-borne virus.

In addition to taking lives, the virus is digging heavily into the Caja's coffers. Social Security spent ¢4.16 billion ($8.3 million) last year on treating patients with dengue. Climent called for great prevention, saying that the Social Security System will continue to work with both public agencies and private firms to keep the fight going.

One example of the private sector's commitment, Climent said, is beverage company Florida Bebidas' “Barridas contra el dengue” (Sweep Up Dengue) program designed to help 20 of the most dengue-prone areas of Costa Rica.

“The program is a clean-up effort in which volunteers collect garbage such as empty bottles and sometimes old washing machines off the street. These can accumulate water and create a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” Caja spokeswoman María Isabel Solís said.

The project launched Sunday in the Cañas canton, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, according to Carlos Francisco Echeverría of Florida Bebidas, and is set to continue this weekend in Liberia, the province's capital, and Belén, a town northwest of San José.

Meanwhile, international researchers and aid workers are racing to find a way to stop the spread of the virus, which mosquitoes pass to up to 100 million people each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A group of British scientists say they have found a way to pre-empt the mosquitoes' strike, Wired Magazine reported. Scientists at the company Oxitec said they can decimate mosquito populations by breeding genetically modified male “terminator” mosquitoes and setting them loose to mate with wild females. Their offspring, the report said, would contain a lethal gene that would make them die young.

Officials Tuesday captured a tuna boat loaded with 280 tons of illegally caught fish near Isla del Coco, a national park and marine protected area located 532 miles off the country's Pacific coast.

The 67 meter Tiuna was flying Panamanian flags when captured and was outfitted with a helicopter for spotting schooling fish from the air, heavy-duty fish nets and a 25-person crew, according to a news release from MarViva, a Costa Rica-based environmental group.

The Coast Guard, officials from the Environment and Energy Ministry and representatives from MarViva worked together to detain the boat and 25-person crew, who will be delivered to the port city of Puntarenas to face charges and a fine of up to $5 million, according to a report in the daily La Nación.

The capture comes after years of cooperation between the government and MarViva, which helped purchase, equip and staff boats to protect Isla del Coco National Park, designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations in 1997.

I have tried surfing once, and would like to try again, but I am not a surfer.

There are many reasons for this. Principal among these is an absence of qual-ity waves in the English Home Counties where I grew up. However, there is something else: I think surfing has something of an image problem.

I realize that this is probably a minority view – certainly the bank balances of surf-label executives provide strong evidence against me – but hear me out.

When you think of surfing, what comes to mind? Exotic countries, white, sandy, palm-fringed beaches, blue skies and bluer waters inhabited by healthy, tanned, athletic people living wonderful stress-free lives. What's not to like? I hear you ask. You still don't follow me, do you?

The problem is, I think, that surf culture is a victim of its own success. Those images and their ubiquity now seem mocking because I know my wide-eyed, pasty-white face just does not fit the mold. Furthermore, as I sit writing at my cluttered desk, looking out at gray clouds spreading gloom across the polluted center of San José, I am jealous and resentful of the beautiful people who have the time and money to chase after paradise.

And it is more than just images. Surfing is its own alien, confusing, intimidating world from which the uninitiated can feel very much excluded. It has its own language, music and worldview that I can't seem to share. Try as I might, I just cannot bring myself to like Jack Johnson.

So when I was asked to review the new “H2O Surf Travel Guide: Costa Rica,” I was a little wary. My fears seemed confirmed when I opened a random page and read: “Consequences: You gonna get hurt. You gonna bleed! You will scare yourself silly, and you will be a victim of your destiny. That's why you surf.” Oh dear.

Thankfully, first impressions are not always to be trusted. The guide is informative, easy to use and has none of the pretensions I expected. It provides substantive information, rather than just a series of glossy images, and tells you all the mundane things you need to know: where to stay and eat, where to watch out for thieves, where to get stitched up when you take on a wave the guide warned you not to. It even tells you where to watch out for sharks.

The book, clearly, is designed for the serious surfer, so it is packed with specialized jargon. In fact, most of the book made very little sense to me. I managed to find some help at www.riptionary.com, an online glossary of surf lingo, but I am still at a loss to explain the exact benefits of a “perfectly hollowed drop,” or why precisely I might want my dings repaired, but no matter because this is not just pointless wordiness. Rather, it is clearly the product of author Jonathan Yonkers' overwhelming passion for the sport – a passion that is engagingly disarming and cannot help but rub off on even his most unsuspecting and cynical reader.

It is not just the text, either; the book is nicely put together across the board. Who cares if the picture shows an overcast and leaden sky? Just check out that A-frame, mae. It's the Tico surfers who really know the scene, so the photos invariably show them, rather than Gringos. The book is clearly organized by region, and easy-to-follow symbols tell you whether or not a wave is suitable for your level and what services you can expect to find at a particular beach. To steal the lingo, it is “punchy” rather than “mushy.”

It is true that I did not understand much of what I read, that I cannot tell you how accurate the information is, and I do not know whether the book represents value for money. I may not be one of the beautiful people, I may not know a beach break from a point break, and I may not even be able to stand up on a board.

I do, however, feel inspired. With this guide, I feel it is safe to go back into the water.