AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye Mystery Rash

OOOOOOOOPS

Looks like it is a late eruption of the Pica Pica. The other two of us that were not experiencing the rash on Tuesday, broke out with it on Friday (almost a week after leaving Belize).
Itches like crazy!

I did use Sea Safe lotion 50 spf religiously, but you MUST put it where the sun don't shine. I have Pica Pica rash under my arm pits, stomach and bikini line, where the suit & shorts supposedly covered me. Not comfortable at all. Some of my friends have it all over including the hair line. Nasty stuff.

For what it's worth, we did all of our diving at local sites just beyond the reef. We did 9 tanks total all week and snorkled at Shark Ray Alley.

Just wanted to give fair warning to those coming in this week. Pica Pica is still out there.

We ran into some divers at Caves Branch the week prior. They had just left A/C as we were inbound. Both had heavy Pica Pica rashs around their necks and hair line.

You gotta love it. IMHO if you just adequately slather the Sea Safe over 100% of your body, you won't have a rash.

Hey Jude

Hey Jude, Would love to know what the doctor said. Was it Chicken Pox?

Hey Jude, do you have it on the palms of your hands and the soles of your feet too? On one of my returns last year, I broke out all over in some very strange places. It was terrible, terrible. Turns out it was some kind of virus. It didn't make me feel sick but the rash was horrid. It took a couple of weeks to clear up and that was with prescribed steroid cream and then after the rash cleared up, the skin on my palms and soles peeled off. It was an icky few weeks for sure.

Doctor didn't get too specific. Said it was just a reaction. He prescribed steroid and spray Benedril which helps with the itch.

Three of us are comparing notes on our "rash" and it is still going strong after a being back a week. The other diving friend lives in Houston and I'm sure will be giving me an update.

My guess is that we will be itching for a couple weeks until it fades away. I'm certain it is pica pica based on the locations on our bodies.

What surprised me was the time it took for the reaction. Two experienced itchy bumps easily 3 days before the other two of us. I'm sure we all got into it at the same time on one of our first days of diving. We felt it but it never really became an itchy outbreak right after getting out of the water. I thought we got away without any big itching episode. I WAS WRONG!

Hey...we'll survive.

Hey Jude

Seashell, I had Scarlet Fever as a teen and it sounds like the same, but I had an associated strep throat with it. Peeled on feet and hands !!
I was diagnosed immediately because of the rash on my chest....then it progressed. Of course with the strep there was fever too.

Belizeans get illness too and we don't know what they are till diagnosed at home cause we aren't there long enough. Most non-caribbean physicians don't know

Been reading about all your "itchys"



Hope y'all get better really fast!

NY, the doc at the walkin clinic tried to diagnose a bunch of dastardly stuff. One thing she suggested was Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease. This is a thrush-like rash that babies get. I was some upset.

In any event, I went to a specialist (skin) and he pooh-poohed that idea completely. He said it was merely a virus and that it would run its course. He prescribed Benadryl and a steroid cream. He told me how long it would last and he was right.

I hope I never get anything like that again. A friend of mine ended up coming down with something very like it, a couple of months later. This made me wonder if the virus wasn't something I'd contracted on the plane or once at home, instead of while in Belize.

With the location of the rash it's probably not poisonwood, but just in case - here is the scoop on that (also called chichem)
Poisonwood rash develops about 3 days after exposure to the poisonwood tree, leaves etc.
It produces blisters that itch and weep - and spread. It's like poison ivy or poison oak - but worse. The most effective cure is Gumbo-limbo. With Gumbo-limbo treatment the problem will go away an a day or so. With any other treatment (cortizone etc,) expect the rash to hang on for about 3 weeks.

I am nursing chechem as we speak, acquired last weekend. Using gumboo limbo and eurax lotion, which also worked well for treating the pica pica I had a few weeks ago....theres a new theory in reputable marine biologist circles that pica pica is actually from a plant. At any rate, not one person at yesterdays Round Table bbq in Belize City could recall pica pica as kids, say its only been present in these waters for the last 10 yrs, maybe less.