Daily Edition: San José, Costa Rica, August 22, 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dengue Claims Life of First
Victim Since 1999
Dengue fever claimed the life of its first victim in Costa Rica since 1999, according to the daily La Nación.
(Click for more)
U.S. Institute Donates
Medical
Equipment to
Calderón Guardia Hospital
The United States Texas Heart Institute donated medical equipment worth ¢100 million ($200,000) to Calderón Guardia Hospital in downtown San José , which was partially destroyed in a fire last month.
(Click for more)
Costa Ricans Reluctant to
Vote in 2006 Election
Disenchanted by politics, 39% of Costa Ricans affirm they will not vote in the next presidential elections in February 2006, according to a study released by the survey company Unimer.
(Click for more)
August 22
“Self-Knowledge,
Organization
and Study Techniques”
Workshop for high-school students, by M. Ed. Pilar Fernández Mora, educator, M. Ed. Katherine Palma, psychologist, Aug. 23-25, 4-6 p.m.; for elementary students, Aug. 22-24, 4-6 p.m., EQUIAMU, 50 m north of La Galera service station, Curridabat. Info: 271-2803.
Seminars for Parents
Organized by Previda, “Parent Effectiveness Training – Discipline and Limits,” by Master Silvia Monge, Aug. 22, 7-9 p.m.; First Aids – CPR for Babies, by Dr. Jaime Cortés, Director of the Emergency Room of the Children's Hospital, Sept. 3, 1-6:30 p.m.; “How to Take Care of a Newborn, “ Aug. 27, Previda Office, 300 m . north, 2 small blocks east (right), 50 m . north (left hand) of Parque Amistad, 291-3640.
Edited By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
Dengue Claims Life of First
Victim Since 1999
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net
Dengue fever claimed the life of its first victim in Costa Rica since 1999, according to the daily La Nación.
Christian Rodríguez, 24, died Saturday at Monseñor Sanabria Hospital 's dengue unit, in the Pacific port city of Puntarenas , said the daily.
Rodríguez apparently died of hemorrhagic dengue – a more severe form of the viral disease transmitted by infected female aedes aegypti mosquitoes (TT, Aug. 19) – but health authorities await the results of an autopsy to confirm which type of dengue killed him.
Rodríguez, a Puntarenas waiter who left behind a pregnant wife and eight-year-old daughter, fell ill with a fever and diarrhea last Monday, but he thought it was a common cold, his widow told the daily.
However, when she visited him at Monseñor Sanabria on Friday, he was “white, white as a sheet,” she said.
Rodríguez's death on Saturday appears to have induced his grandmother's death.
Juanita Véliz, 70, suffered a heart attack after hearing the news of her grandson's death, according to La Nación.
The last two reported deaths in Costa Rica from hemorrhagic dengue were in 1999. The disease, present in the country as an epidemic since 1993, has no known cure (TT, July 15).
More than14,000 cases of dengue fever and 20 cases of hemorrhagic dengue have been reported in Costa Rica to date, an increase of approximately 150% compared to 2004, when, by mid-August, more than 4,800 classic dengue and 8 hemorrhagic dengue cases had emerged nationwide.
Health authorities recommend emptying standing water inside and outside homes, which can become mosquito breeding grounds, and using mosquito repellent to avoid contracting the disease.
U.S. Institute Donates Medical Equipment
to Calderón Guardia Hospital
The United States Texas Heart Institute donated medical equipment worth ¢100 million ($200,000) to Calderón Guardia Hospital in downtown San José , which was partially destroyed in a fire last month.
A cardiologist from the U.S. institute, Zvonimir Krajcer said the equipment, donated to the hospital's cardiology unit, will help Costa Rica , a country with qualified medical staff.
“Costa Ricans perform operations of the same quality as we do in the United States , even though they do not have high-tech equipment. We feel a lot of affection for this country and hope to help it out,” said the doctor of Croatian origin.
Calderón Guardia director Luis Paulino Hernández said the equipment will allow them to “not become completely demoralized in the face of the crisis we have lived” with the fire that consumed part of the hospital, including the cardiology unit.
“Today we are living painful moments, but with the support of friends of the hospital it will rise from the ashes and become one of the best in Latin America ,” said Hernández, who expressed gratitude for the contribution in name of the patients.
A fire July 12 took the lives of 19 patients and destroyed several floors of Calderón Guardia Hospital (TT, July 15).
The Costa Rican government will invest $20 million – funds that were destined for construction of a cancer hospital – to rebuild Calderón Guardia (TT, Aug. 20).
--ACAN-EFE
Costa Ricans Reluctant to
Vote in 2006 Election
Disenchanted by politics, 39% of Costa Ricans affirm they will not vote in the next presidential elections in February 2006, according to a study released by the survey company Unimer.
The survey results, published yesterday in the daily La Nación , show the rate of non-participation has increased, because a similar survey, published last April, showed 32% of Costa Ricans would abstain from voting.
Of the total interviewees, only 15% said they will vote and have already chosen a candidate, while the rest of voters are divided between those who say they will not vote and those who have not yet chosen a candidate.
During the last presidential elections, in February 2002, 31% of Costa Ricans abstained from voting, a percentage that increased by 8% during second-round elections in April that year.
Of the 15% of Costa Ricans who know they will vote, 62% affirm they will vote for former President Oscar Arias (1986-1990), the National Liberation Party (PLN) candidate.
Information for the Unimer survey was gathered between August 1-10 through personal interviews to 1,413 Costa Rican citizens between the ages of 17 and 69 who will be able to vote next February, and has a 2.6% margin of error.
--ACAN-EFE
Daily News | Home | Top Story | Business News | Central American News
Editorial Cartoon | Weekend | Exchange Rates | Fishing | Culture | Classified Ads
Display Ads | Subscribe! | Travel Guide | Archives | Links | About Us | Newsstand Locations
Contact Us