Dengue Fever in Bali: My Personal Experience and Tips for Tourists
- Olga Kurak
- May 29
- 9 min read
Updated: Aug 4
Almost a month ago, I got dengue fever in Bali. Just a reminder for those who don’t know or may have forgotten — I’ve been living on the island for over three years, and this was my first (hopefully last) experience with such an exotic illness here in Bali. I’m still recovering, and I’d like to share my experience — maybe it’ll be useful to someone planning a trip to the island and help them avoid health issues during their vacation.
Table of Contents
9. Useful Links
What is dengue fever?
Dengue is a viral infection transmitted through the bites of mosquitoes, especially the Aedes aegypti species. It is common in tropical and subtropical regions, including Bali. Symptoms usually appear 3–14 days after a bite and can range from mild to severe.
Most common symptoms include:
high fever
severe headache
muscle and joint pain
nausea and vomiting
skin rash
loss of appetite and sense of taste
In more severe cases, dengue fever in Bali and other tropical areas can lead to internal bleeding, extremely low platelet count, and a dangerous drop in blood pressure. There is no specific cure — treatment focuses on relieving symptoms, maintaining hydration, and managing complications.
How it started for me
If you’ve ever read about dengue symptoms, you’ll know that the illness often starts suddenly. That’s exactly how it was for me. I woke up in the morning feeling perfectly fine — healthy and full of energy. I went for a run, completed my usual 6 km, took a shower, and then felt a strange, sudden ache in my muscles.
Then I went out for coffee — and while sitting there, I started to feel chills. When I got home and took my temperature, it was already 38°C. It didn’t feel like the flu or a cold at all — they never hit me like that. So, I grabbed my phone and started reading about symptoms similar to the flu. According to the description, it was clearly dengue. Everything matched what I was feeling: the fever spiked every 2–3 hours to 40°C or even higher, I took paracetamol to bring it down, my body was in unbearable pain — it felt like my bones were breaking from the inside, constant headaches, and total loss of energy. I could barely move around the house.
I knew clearly — this wasn’t the flu, it was dengue. But until the third day, I still hoped it would pass quickly and just turn out to be the flu :)
Day 4: Visit to the Doctor
On the fourth morning, I felt so bad that Santiago and I went to see a doctor — a small clinic in Uluwatu. They ran a blood test, and it confirmed that I had dengue. They kept me in the clinic for 24 hours for observation. Another blood test was done 12 hours later, and the results were worse — my platelets and white blood cell count were dropping. The doctor decided to transfer me to a hospital in Nusa Dua.
At 3 a.m., I was in an ambulance with the siren on — my first time ever. Santiago stayed at home for the night — I decided not to wake him, to let him rest, and planned to text him in the morning to let him know I had been transferred to Nusa Dua.
My hospital stay
Let me pause here for a moment and talk about the administrative side — checking into one of the top hospitals on the island. We arrived around 3:30 in the morning, and I was sent to the emergency reception. Santiago and I have health insurance. Back at the first clinic, the manager had already taken my insurance details and contacted the provider directly — he handled everything himself. It was clearly an emergency, and I was in no condition to deal with anything on my own.
When we arrived at BIMC Nusa Dua, the administrator asked for my insurance. I gave her all the documents and contact info. I was lying there, waiting. About 30 minutes later, the administrator came back, handed me some papers to sign, and told me to contact my insurer to get a payment guarantee — or else pay a deposit of around $400 to be admitted to a room. I had a 40°C fever, hadn’t slept all night because of the transfers, my body was aching — and this woman told me I needed to sort out my own insurance or pay. I couldn’t believe a hospital staff member was saying this. Honestly.
While they were processing everything, I didn’t receive any medical help. She left. Twenty minutes later she messaged me on WhatsApp, saying the number I gave her didn’t work. Fine, I sent her other numbers — even though all of them were clearly written in the document I had already given her. Another 30 minutes passed and she still claimed she couldn’t reach anyone.
That’s when I got pissed off. I regretted not calling Santiago to come with me. I decided I wouldn’t pay any deposit (even though I could — it wasn’t about the money, it was about their attitude), I’d wait for my husband and go to another hospital in the morning — Kasih Ibu General Hospital Denpasar, where we’ve always had great service.
I messaged the administrator with a long text saying that it was almost 6 a.m., no doctors had checked on me yet, and meanwhile she was bothering me every 20–30 minutes with messages demanding that I, in my condition, deal with the insurance. This wasn’t our first insurance case — and in emergencies, hospitals usually handle the contact themselves. Even the manager at that tiny clinic in Uluwatu managed to arrange everything without expecting anything from the patient.
Her response came quickly: first, an apology. Then, finally, they contacted the insurance, who immediately responded since they already had my case info. A nurse came and gave me paracetamol.
Santiago showed up around 7 a.m. and started trying to convince me to just pay the deposit and go to the room. But I said, “No way. We wait. If they don’t sort it by 9 a.m., we’ll call the insurer ourselves and go to Denpasar” (yes, I can be a little stubborn sometimes 😅).And you know what? After my message — they got everything sorted, got the paperwork done, and I was finally taken to a room.
The service after that was great: my hospital room looked like a hotel — it had a shower, TV, hygiene kits, and three meals a day. The nurses were kind and professional, and the doctor was amazing.
Why am I sharing this story about the hospital check-in?
To highlight two important things:
Reliable travel insurance is absolutely essential.
Always stand up for yourself.
If someone’s doing their job poorly, it doesn’t mean the whole facility is bad — sometimes it’s just that one person.
Meanwhile, my physical condition kept getting worse. As it turned out — fever and body aches were just the beginning. My platelet count dropped to around 30 (normal is 150). Even walking to the bathroom was a challenge: after five steps I’d start to black out.
And then it got worse. On the fifth day, my body broke out in a bright red rash. On day six, I felt like there were thousands of needles under my skin. It was burning, prickling, and itching in some areas. I was ready to tear my skin off. I couldn’t sleep. After more than 24 hours without rest, I broke down crying to Santiago.
And the medical team? They couldn’t do much. Dengue treatment in cases like mine is basically observation: paracetamol to reduce the fever and pain, IV fluids to prevent dehydration and keep your body going. That’s it. The rash is just a phase you have to go through.
But finally, some good news: on day four at the hospital, the doctor told me I had entered the recovery phase — and the rash was a clear sign of that. If my platelets went up that evening, she’d let me go home the next day.
And that’s exactly what happened. That night my platelets started climbing, and just like that — the awful skin prickling stopped. It was the worst symptom, and it vanished like magic. I truly started to feel better.
In the morning, they ran another blood test. Platelets were still going up, the fever wasn’t coming back every couple of hours like before, and my appetite had finally returned (I couldn’t eat at all the first 3–4 days). They let me go home.
Day 8: Returning Home
Once I got home, I spent another week mostly in bed. I still had a low-grade fever sometimes — around 37–37.8°C. I felt weak and slept a lot. The hospital gave me some medication to take home: multivitamins, liver protectors (because the virus affects the liver), paracetamol, and allergy pills for the rash.
The red spots on my skin sometimes turned purple or bluish. The redness on my arms faded fairly quickly, but my legs stayed swollen and intensely red for another week. Only by the third week did the swelling finally go away, and I stopped feeling that constant discomfort.
Slowly, I began returning to a normal life. I had enough strength to do a few things around the house and work on my laptop. But I wasn’t ready for sports yet. I had no energy for running, going to the gym, or yoga — so I just walked my dogs every morning for 1.5–2 km.
I also focused more on nutrition to support my body and help it recover. I ate beetroot daily in all kinds of salads, buckwheat (my childhood favorite), and added more veggies — asparagus, spinach, broccoli, and cabbage. These particular veggies and grains are known to help boost platelet levels.
What’s still going on with my body
At the time I’m writing this, four weeks have passed since the start of the illness. I feel much better and have started exercising again — light running and gym workouts. The redness is almost gone, except for a few red-purple patches left on my feet.
But now came a new stage in dengue recovery: the skin on my hands and feet started peeling off in full sheets. Not the prettiest thing, and definitely not comfortable — the constant dryness and tightness is annoying. But, as the doctor said, this is a normal part of healing. Full recovery usually takes 3 to 5 weeks.
Tips for travelers: how to avoid dengue fever in Bali
If you’re planning a trip to Bali, here are a few tips to help you avoid catching dengue fever in Bali:
Use mosquito repellents (sprays, creams, lotions, aerosols, etc.): choose ones with DEET, picaridin, or lemon eucalyptus oil. Apply to exposed skin.
Pack mosquito killers for your stay: plug-in liquids, coils, etc. These take up little space in your bag but can save you a lot of trouble in hotels or villas.
Wear light protective clothing: long sleeves and pants, especially in the mornings and evenings when mosquitoes are most active, and when visiting places with stagnant water like rice fields.
Choose accommodation with mosquito nets or air conditioning — this helps prevent bites at night.
Avoid standing water near your home or stay — it’s a prime breeding ground for mosquitoes.
At the first signs of flu-like symptoms, seek medical attention immediately.
Get reliable travel insurance! Don’t skip this step.
Take care of your health, wear repellent — and let your Bali trip be full of great memories, not hospital stories 😅
P. S. Wondering where I caught it?
I was thinking about that too :) And I came to the conclusion that about two weeks before I got sick, I was out walking the dogs, and my Sumba ran off into the jungle. He was gone for too long, so I went to look for him. I was wearing only a dress, it was already getting dark, and the mosquitoes were especially active — particularly in those thick bushes I had to pass through.
I found Sumba — he was having the time of his life chasing squirrels 😅 But I came home completely covered in bites.
That’s where I think it happened.That one mosquito — or maybe more than one — found me there.
Useful Links:
The Lotus Medical Clinic Pecatu – a small clinic in Uluwatu. They run tests on-site. If you need quick help with minor health issues (flu, cold, stomach problems, small surf-related injuries, etc.), this is the place to go.
BIMC Hospital Nusa Dua – considered one of the best hospitals on the island.
Kasih Ibu General Hospital Denpasar – we’ve used this hospital several times, and the service has always been excellent.
VUMI – an international health insurance company we personally use.
Thank you for reading 💛
Olya
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