The Ministry of Public Health has confirmed two cases of the Zika virus in Costa Rica, and those two infections were enough for one traveler in from Minnesota to cancel an upcoming vacation in our country. According to a news report filed by Rochelle Olson of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, travel agents in that North American metropolis are warning their clients about the dangerous virus, which is ...

Wikimedia Commons London, Jan 27 (EFE).- A team of U.S. researchers has developed a method for screening thousands of chemicals for toxicity without testing them on animals, an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications said. A team led by Ruili Huang, of the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or NCATS, conducted the Tox21 stud...

H1N1 vaccine will be available in Costa Rica in March 2016. Source: Wikimedia Commons A 56-year old man from the Kingdom of the Netherlands has been listed as the 31st death caused by the H1N1 virus in Costa Rica since December. According to a news report filed by Angela Avalos of daily newspaper La Nacion, the announcement of the death was made by Minister of Public Health Fernando Llorca on ...

By Alba Santandreu Piracicaba, Brazil, Jan 27 (EFE).- Roughly 800,000 genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are being released per week in the Brazilian city of Piracicaba to combat that insect, a transmitter of the dengue and zika viruses that has confounded health authorities in Brazil and other Latin American countries. Unlike other mosquitoes, the "good" Aedes aegypti, as it is c...

FIle photo BALTIMORE, MD (PRWEB) JANUARY 20, 2016 - As healthcare costs and complexity in the U.S. continue to spiral upward, more and more retirees are asking, “Can I get high-quality healthcare for less if I move overseas?” The simple answer is yes. The Healthcare category of the 2016 International Living Global Retirement Index ranks the healthcare systems of the 23 most popular retirement l...

Source: Rythmia The Rythmia Life Advancement Center, a luxury resort in Costa Rica that made headlines in the past due to a controversial therapy that involved the use of a psychedelic substance, has reformed its operations and is now offering holistic vacations. As previously reported by The Costa Rica Star, Rythmia was mostly known for its use of Ibogaine, a substance extracted from a few...

Wikimedia Commons Women who contemplate breast augmentation typically face a dilemma in terms of needs vs. wants. For the most part, breast augmentation procedures are performed for aesthetic reasons related to a youthful and perky look that may have been lost due to breastfeeding and the physiological changes that come with aging. As one of the most popular destinations for medical tourism...

Tourists who come to Costa Rica seeking affordable dental procedures are getting younger and more attuned to the idea of going abroad for treatment, and this is a trend that can be expected to expand this decade. As the North American members of the Millennial Generation join the workforce and the enterprise world, the dental industry is rushing to understand these young adults for the purpose ...

Wikimedia Commons Los Angeles, Jan 16 (EFE).- Dozens of residents in Lynwood, California, accepted the city's challenge Saturday to lose weight and at the same time take home $3,500 and learn what they need to know about diet and exercise. The municipal government of this city in Los Angeles County is into its seventh "Cash for Chunkers" program, which aims to motivate the community to stay...

Celine Dion and her late husband. Wikimedia Commons New York, Jan 16 (EFE).- Just two days after Canadian singer Celine Dion lost her husband to cancer, her older brother Daniel died Saturday of the same disease. He was 59. Daniel Dion, one of the artist's 13 siblings, died Saturday in Montreal of the brain, tongue and throat cancer he had been fighting, TMZ online entertainment news report...

Although no Zika virus infections have been reported in Costa Rica as of mid-January, officials from the Ministry of Public Health (Spanish initials: MSP) are not taking any chances. According to a news report published yesterday by El Nuevo Diario, a national newspaper in Nicaragua, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) will hold a workshop on this dangerous virus on February 2nd and 4th...

H1N1 vaccine will be available in Costa Rica in March 2016. Source: Wikimedia Commons San Jose, Jan 7 (EFE).- At least 14 people, including an expat woman from India, have died from the H1N1 flu virus since December in Costa Rica and 22 others remain hospitalized in serious condition, the Health Ministry said. Northern Costa Rica's San Carlos hospital had the highest number of fatalities, w...

That nearly incapacitating fear that many people experience when visiting their local dentist is not as prevalent when they engage in dental tourism, and British researchers are learning why this happens and how patients can overcome this phobia. Odontophobia is one of the many terms used to associate the unfounded fear of dental procedures. Longitudinal research studies conducted in the United...

Wikimedia Commons In the first study of its kind, a team of international scientists led by UT Southwestern Medical Center and UCLA researchers have identified a dozen inherited traits related to sleep, wake, and activity cycles that are associated with severe bipolar disorder. Researchers also were able to tie the traits to specific chromosomes, providing important clues to the genetic nat...

Asclepios retreat Located in El Cacao, province of Alajuela, the Asclepios Wellness & Healing Center will host a special detox program from January 20th until January 24th, 2016. This is a perfect program for those who wish to start the New Year with a clean and invigorated mindset. Asclepios detox is a holistic program to cleanse your body from the inside. The special diet is created t...

Source: Lindsay Lohan Instagram Hollywood actress and tabloid mainstay Lindsay Lohan will celebrate New Year's Eve in Costa Rica, specifically in the Guanacaste Gold Coast. According to various social media updates posted by the star of films such as Mean Girls, Freaky Friday, Chapter 27, and A Prairie Home Companion, she is currently staying at a luxury resort in Bahia Salinas. In a video ...

Pixabay Commons With the end of 2015 quickly approaching, people around the world are starting to think about their resolution for the New Year. Recent sociological research suggests that some of the most common New Year's resolutions include losing weight and giving up smoking, which happen to be two very positive and healthy promises. Alas, these resolutions are also the most commonly abando...

Flickr Commons A more competitive marketplace is expected for the weight control and fitness industry in Costa Rica in 2016, a country where the rate of obesity has increased gradually over the last few years. According to a new report by Fast Market Research, players in this industry will have to adjust to innovation in 2016. Integral dietary approaches that often start with detox techniqu...

Wikimedia Commons By Julia Talarn Rabascall Santiago, Dec 28 (EFE).- Bacteria surviving under extreme conditions in Antarctic glaciers synthesize fluorescent nanoparticles that could be used to tag tumor cells and track the metastasis in different types of cancers, scientists said. These nanoparticles are produced by microorganisms able to resist high exposure to ultraviolet light, lack ...

Wikimedia Commons Things did not go his way for rock star Lenny Kravitz, a resident of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, who was recently ordered to shut down a free dental practice he established on Eleuthera Island for the benefit of the local population. According to a news report published by Caribbean newspaper The Eleutheran, Mr. Kravitz organized the free dental clinic through his Let...

A recent report by Research and Markets indicates that the global cosmetic dentistry market is set to grow at a rate of nearly 7 percent per year to become a $22.4 billion industry by the end of the decade. As one of the top dental tourism destinations in the Americas, Costa Rica is a significant contributor to this market. Cosmetic dentistry is marketed as a discipline that can produce beautiful...

Wikimedia Commons Bruxism is an involuntary and unconscious condition that prompts individuals to grind their teeth, usually while they are sleeping. There are four main symptoms ofbruxism: morning headaches, earaches and worn-down teeth. The American Dental Association (ADA) defines bruxism as a habit of forcefully clenching your teeth. The morning soreness and aches are caused by the ...

Wikimedia Commons If your teeth are cracked, decayed, fractured, or otherwise in bad shape, you may have considered extraction at one point. If you have made this decision or at least thought about it, you are certainly not alone; in the United Kingdom, 74 percent of adult patients have elected extraction at least once in their lives. Deciding against tooth extractions is the main driver of...

Dr. Mario Bonilla Within the dental tourism industry of Costa Rica, the New Smile Dental Group stands out as one of the pioneering and most successful clinics in our country. The New Smile Dental Group is unique in the sense that it operates in a way that fully supports the interests and well-being of dental tourists. Located about 11 miles away from the Juan Santamaria International Airpor...

The dental tourism experience in Costa Rica is characterized by affordable treatments performed by dedicated professionals who are keenly aware of each patient's situation and desired outcomes. Not all dental clinics in Costa Rica offer all the treatments sought by dental tourists; as a general rule, few patients fly down here for the sole purpose of getting a dental cleaning and polishing, alt...

Rio de Janeiro, Nov 28 (EFE; additional reporting by The Costa Rica Star).- The Zika virus, which has spread across a large part of Latin America, is the cause of abnormally small heads in newborn babies, a condition known as microcephaly, Brazil's Health Ministry confirmed Saturday. In Costa Rica, officials from the Ministry of Public Health are closely following the situation across Central A...

Source: Flickr Commons NEW BERN, NC (PRWEB) NOVEMBER 26, 2015 - “For decades, Americans have traveled from one city to another to receive specialized medical treatments or to see a specialist for a rare condition,” says Dr. John Zannis, a board-certified plastic surgeon who practices in New Bern, North Carolina. “More recently, consumers have learned that they can have medical procedures done in...

Wikimedia Commons One of the least talked-about secrets of dental tourism in Costa Rica revolves around technologies that were introduced to the field of dentistry in the late 20th century. Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) are digital technologies applied to prosthodontics, a specialized branch of dentistry that deals with replacement of teeth and restoration of...

Wikimedia Commons Sitting down to get x-rays taken is one of the dental procedures that most patients are familiar with. The use of radiography in dentistry dates back to the 20th century, and it helps dental health professionals determine the type of treatment a patient needs; in many cases, these x-ray images can also be used for forensic purposes in case a missing person needs to be identif...

FreeStockPhotos.biz A recent health data study published by a New York research firm estimates that a little more than one third of the adult population of the United States is obese, including 17 percent of youths and adolescents. The study was requested by public health officials in the Empire State, and the results will be used to for planning of future programs to control this health condi...

The legendary film director/producer duo of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are often considered to be Hollywood royalty. Together, Howard and Grazer have made highly successful movies such as A Beautiful Mind, Rush and The Da Vinci Code, and their latest creation is of a scientific nature. The Age of Aging is a film that is broadcast as part of Breakthrough, a new National Geographic Channel serie...

Buenos Aires, Nov 12 (EFE).- The pregnancy of a 13-year-old girl who has already given birth once before is rocking Argentine society, given that - in addition - authorities are investigating whether her situation was brought about by being raped by her mother's partner, local media reported. The girl, whose name has not been made public, had been living with her 32-year-old mother, her stepfat...

"CharlieSheenMarch2009" by Angela George. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons A dental technician who claimed she was groped and attacked by a reportedly drug-addled Hollywood star has chosen to dismiss her civil lawsuit. A little over a year ago, Margarita Palestino filed a complaint against Carlos Estevez, better known as Charlie Sheen, for what she claimed was outrageous behav...

Wikimedia Commons Many dental tourists who plan medical vacations in Costa Rica ask if they should start taking antibiotics prior to their arrival. This question is mostly asked by patients from the United States and Canada, where dental health practitioners have been known to recommend antibiotics to a few categories of patients. The only rule of thumb in this regard is that antibiotics sh...

Washington, Nov 6 (EFE).- A 32-year-old Texas man who is dying of cancer had his dream come true of seeing the latest film in the "Star Wars" saga in an exclusive screening before it reaches theaters in December. Daniel Fleetwood, given two months to live by doctors last July, is a great fan of the saga, which led his wife to launch a campaign on social networks urging the producers of "The For...

Source: Immigration Experts A foreigner residing in Costa Rica can enjoy insurance coverage extended by a spouse without regard as to the immigration status of the insured. Such was the resolution issued by the Constitutional Chamber of Costa Rica, more commonly known as Sala IV, earlier this year. The Law Office of Immigration Experts Costa Rica has closely followed this case, which was re...

Source: Wikimedia Commons San Juan, Oct 28 (EFE).- Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller sent her condolences Wednesday to the families of the 19 babies who died in outbreaks of bacterial infections at two hospitals in Jamaica. "I extend sincere sympathies to parents and other members of the families of those children who died. The Ministry of Health and the Minister will look at the present...

Many tourists who travel to Costa Rica in search of dental procedures may also suffer from hypertension, a fairly common condition characterized by blood pressure readings that exceed healthy levels. Although hypertension can be managed in most cases, severe cases may present a problem with regard to dental treatment.   The dental health professionals at the New Smile Dental Group, a pr...

Source: New Smile Dental Group The majority of dental tourists who come to Costa Rica for treatments do so for the purpose of getting dental restorations. Although a few patients choose other procedures such as teeth whitenings, deep cleanings and oral surgery, dental restorations are the predominant treatments performed in Costa Rica in terms of dental tourism. “Dental restoration” is an u...

With the skyrocketing costs of healthcare in America, many patients are beginning to look outside of the US for their health and dental care. Because of Latin America’s reputation for healthcare quality and as an enjoyable place to rest and recover post-surgery, many nations in Latin America are becoming popular destinations for medical and dental tourism. Mexico is a common and popular dental car...