As Costa Rica slides over the first wave of the flu pandemic, health officials are preparing for a new – perhaps more severe – outbreak in February or March of next year.

The Health Ministry is drafting a plan for distributing free vaccines and has continued its vigilance in circulating educational material.

As soon as November, Ana Morice, vice health minister, expects 1.8 million vaccines to become available to vulnerable populations (those suffering from respiratory problems, obesity, etc.), including 60,000 for medical personnel and 25,000 for security forces.

In the meantime, the Health Ministry received a boost of confidence that their educational campaign is working.

A recently released study by the University of Costa Rica shows that Costa Ricans are becoming more aware of the symptoms of the H1N1 flu, with more people able to identify fever, sore throat, phlegmy cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing as warning signs.

Costa Ricans are also implementing sanitary measure to a greater extent, the study found, with 5 percent more people washing their hands after using the bathroom, 19 percent more washing their hands before or after eating and 30 percent more people washing their hands after they return from the street.

The statistics were gathered in two studies – one in May and the other in August – through interviews with more than 1,400 people.

One statistic that was of particular concern to the Health Ministry was a misconception concerning vaccines. According to both studies, 15 percent of the population said they'd been vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus.

Avila explained, “The truth is, we haven't had vaccines that specifically target the H1N1. We have medication that prevents certain cases of the flu.

“It concerns me that people thought they were receiving the H1N1 flu vaccine,” she added.

In the dissemination of the real vaccinations due out in November, Avila has urged Costa Ricans to go through their medical practitioners, in order to avoid the possibility of receiving false medication.

Costa Rica is launching a collective purchase of the vaccines with other Central American countries, through the Pan American Health Organization, Morice said.

While the existence of a second wave is not confirmed, health officials are preparing for the possibility of a stronger, more resistant virus.

“Obviously, it would be better if the second wave never happened, but we are getting ready for the worst,” Morice said.

Costa Rica's National Police discovered 11,000 marijuana plants in Bagaces, in the northwestern Guanacaste province, last weekend thanks to a tip from a resident, law enforcement officials said.

The plants represent the largest find of the illegal drug in Costa Rica in almost a decade, according to a press release from the Public Security Ministry.

The plants ranged between a half a meter to one and a half meters high and were ready to be harvested and sold.

The ministry noted that growth and distribution of marijuana has become a growing problem in the past months. Officials believe that most of the seeds for the plants are shipped from South America to Costa Rica by way of the Panamanian border.

Officials said that police forces are stepping up search efforts at borders and training more drug-sniffing K-9s.

So far, no one has been arrested or detained for ownership of the 11,000 plants in Guanacaste.

The Limón Carnival is set to go ahead despite the threat of closure should its organizers fail to meet sanitation regulations.

Last week the Health Ministry suspended the carnival on the grounds that organizers had failed to clear garbage from the streets and provide adequate toilet facilities for the 5,000 party-goers expected to attend.

Organizers have since assured the Health Minister María Luisa Avila that these problems have been resolved and today issued a program of events which run throughout the weekend.

Similar to the Rio Carnival in Brazil, the streets of Limón are expected to come alive this weekend with dancers, fancy dress, parades, floats and music.

As tradition dictates, the highlight of the carnival, the Grand Parade, starts at noon on Saturday and snakes through the centre of Limón, finishing at the Gimnasio Eddy Bermúdez.

The festival is a celebration of the port town's cultural history, although in recent years it has been cancelled due to inadequate sanitary conditions in Limón.

The Costa Rican Investment Board (CINDE) released a study this week that finds that Costa Rica exports the fourth highest percentage of high-tech products in the world.

CINDE used information released in a recent World Bank study of development indicators to create the rankings. Of all the products and services exported by Costa Rica, 46 percent are high-tech products such as computer chips. Only the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore export a higher percentage than Costa Rica.

“We looked at the high-tech exports of all the countries, including medical equipment and technology and computer software products and compiled all the data,” said Andrea Centeno, communications manager at CINDE. “We found that if we ranked the high-tech exports, Costa Rica has the fourth highest percentage.”

Intel Pentium microprocessors account for the bulk of the 46 percent high-tech exports. In 2008, Intel exported more than 86 million microchips, bringing in more than $2 billion. Microchip exports in 2009 have grossed $1.3 billion.

“Bringing Intel to Costa Rica has changed the way this country exports,” said Emmanuel Hess, general manager of the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (PROCOMER), in an interview with The Tico Times. “Over the last 10 years our top exports went from banana and pineapples to integrated services and medical supplies.”

Sales of Intel chips accounted for nearly 5 percent of the gross domestic product in 2008.