Cancún Travel Forum

I am traveling to Cancun Next week- should i be concerned about the Swine Flu?

Latest (24th April) travel health advice from the UK Foreign Office here:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-and-living-overseas/travel-advice-by-country/north-central-america/mexico

Yes you should be, The last group of travellers to test positive had been vacationing in Cancun.

I was going to Cancun next week, but after watching CNN I changed my flights to the Caribbean island of Dominican Republic. Cases of swine flu are increasing, already the European Union warned not to travel to Mexico or the USA in order to avoid the disease. I might as well go to Sosua or Puerto Plata and get a private beach villa there to keep my family away from large crowds, you never know.

Cancun has not been confirmed to have flu cases, but I know that nothing we Mexicans say will change the perception -- sometimes twisted -- that has been created abroad about what's going on in here.

You may want to read this other forum on the topic:

http://forum.virtualtourist.com/discussion-470906-1-1-Travel-0-0-Mexico-discussion.html

No you shouldnt, I came here to cancun 2 weeks ago and I still here healthy as all the people arround me. I havent seen even one person with symptoms.

You dont have to worry at all. Have a nice holiday!

I hope you are already in Cancun enjoying the beaches, archeological sites and night life!! good luck!!

I just got back and I do not think you should be concerned, however, I still think there is some left over hysteria from back in May. My daughter got sick, and she was running a fever. I knew she had a fever, but did not pack a themometer for airport security reasons. (trying to make it as easy as possible) I did not think much of it, but asked the hotel staff for one, thinking they had a first aid kit on hand. they started to act very strange, and I just withdrew the request, since it turned into such a big deal. So much time had gone by that her fever I could tell, diminished, and I told them that, but then, they made a big deal about it, saying how she had to be seen by one of their doctors. I just wanted a themometer. But apparently, but having the request, that posed a problem.

I ended up threatening them, telling them that as her MOTHER, I would be dictating who pokes and prods at her, and they backed off.

Is this behavior because of the Swine Flu? I would think so. It makes sense that they would try to sneak a doctor to my daughter, just sending one up to our room without request, since saying so outright, people would just deny the request, like I did, after getting the information out of them. Like, "what is the big deal, is there a problem?"

I think its safe..My daughter ended up I think, inadvertently eating something that did not agree with her, and she had a bad case of diarrhea for three days. Her fever came down each day, and now she is OK. It was not the flu.

But still.. it was kind of scary how the hotel staff reacted.

Thanks for sharing your experience and sorry to hear that this happened to you.

I guess that now you will undertsand much better and will be more sympathetic towards soooo many mexicans that were traveling during the flu hysteria and who had absolutely no symptoms but were still treated as if they were the virus in person in some countries..... not only were they FORCED to accept the foreign doctors' examinations but also were quarantined, isolated and humiliated for being of a "suspicious" nationality (again, they didn't even have any symptoms or represent any danger whatsoever). I hope that by reading your experience other tourists will understand how unfair this was and will not replicate similar attitudes in the future, especially when they're totally emotional and have no scientific base/support.

I do think they were nervous to think that YOU (your daughter) could be a virus holder and transmit it to healthy mexicans (employees and tourists), now that the virus in Mexico has almost disappeared. We were so discriminated for being the "holders", that now that we no longer are we worry about getting the virus back from someone else. I'm just glad that the hotel staff didn't take their paranoia any further and that your daughter wasn't infected with the flu indeed. Sorry to hear she had such a bad stomach infection though.... it sounds like something did hurt her stomach badly. Hopefully she's now fully recovered and enjoyed her vacation regardless.