by Rod Hughes

Minister of Health María Luisa Avila has denied the Caribbean port city of Limon a license to hold its annual carnival, the biggest and most colorful civic festival in the country. The reason: an outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue fever throughout the province.
So far, no deaths have been reported but the outbreak has swamped Max Peralta public hospital in Limon where six wards with a total of 45 beds are reported full of suffering patients. The illness can cause death but usually symptoms are the high fever and headaches. The outbreak has raised the number of cases from 225 last year to 1,300, an increase of 600% so far this year.
Avila said she had no choice, since the visitors could carry the disease all over the country. The illness is most common in the tropical lowlands and outbreaks have occurred in other coastal areas. In the entire Limon province, dengue has been growing at a rate of 300 cases per week with no sign of a peak.
But Limon residents oppose the ban, a source of extra income in an economically depressed area. And tourists also have ample reason to lament the cancellation of the carnival. The event revolves around music, a veritable showcase of the Caribbean rythmns and folk dancing with nearly universal participation by the locals. As one source once described it to this reporter some years ago, “You jus’ can’t help but dance. The music is just so enticin’, you can’t resist!” Much of this music is produced by steel bands whose instruments are produced by cutting the ends off 55-gallon metal drums, forming and tuning them and using a type of drumstick to produce the sound. Despite being a percussion instrument, the sound is a deep resonance more akind to that of an organ.