Instant Reader Report
on CoCo View / [same] in
Honduras / roatan on
2003/08
by
Michael (Doc) Stewart , az, usa
Report Number 031024231312547

 Virtually everywhere 

Dive Conditions

[Unspecified]  

[None]  

Overall Rating

I read with interest your article in the October, 2003 Undercurrents titled
"CoCo View Cuts the Cheese and (hopefully) Blows Away Tursia".  I
was unfortunate enough to have been a guest at CoCo View Resort in August,
2003 during a partucularly bad outbreak of Turista (the week of August
16th to be exact).  Of our group of 12, only three were spared the severe
fever and intestinal diarrhea, and of 50 guests at the resort that week,
only  a few were unaffected.  To the resort's credit, they did have a
young lab techincian from an island clinic come to the resort and collect
stool samples for analysis.  The results of the tests were delivered to
the resort Friday afternoon.  The technician departed after reviewing the
results with the owner and manager.  At that point, the manager passed out
the results of each guests tests with an axplanation that, as was always
the case in the past, the tests were negative and the culprit could not be
identified.  Being a physician, I reviewed my test results and the results
of several of my companions.  The only abnormality noted on the
everybody's form was an easily overlooked note in small print "se
observan numerosas levaduras".  I immediately inquired with the
manager what "levaduras" meant in the local lingo.  He didn't
know.  Neither did the bartender, a native Honduran at the bar, nor the
owner; however, the owner immediately phoned the clinic to find out.  The
owner reported that "levaduras" were defined by the physician at
the clinc to be "yeast and mold commonly found on the skin of people
who consume too much fat".  It took me a few minutes, given the
comunication and translation barrier, to interperate this to mean that we
were infected with mold commonly found in faty foods; namely, the bitter
tasting cheese the kitchen had been serving all week.  Conversations with
the three unaffected people in our group quickly cofirmed my suspicion, as
they all had avoided dairy products for dietary reasons. 

I was most disturbed by the fact the CoCo View had not caught this
earlier.  It is one thing to have tests performed, but to not have the
results professionally interpreted borders on negligence.

A few other things our group observed also disturbed us.  The table
linnens were not changed all week long, even after they were obviously
soiled.  In a wet, humid environment like that on Roatan, the soiled table
linnens could quicly become a breeding ground for bacteria.  Also, proper
food handeling techniques (placing uncooked food like pancake batter on
ice, and properly storing cooked foods on a steam table) did not become
evident until well after several guests had reported that they were ill.

I would give CoCo View a thumbs down.  I certainly will not be visiting
again, nor will I lead another group to CoCo View. 

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