Avoiding illness abroad
Nothing puts the kibosh on a vacation quicker than getting sick. However, sometimes a little advance prep and some local knowledge can help travellers stay healthy, even in areas of the world where visitors often succumb to illness. Here are some tips: 1. Before you go: For travel to certain areas of the world, travellers should arm themselves with advance vaccinations and other forms of prophylactic medications. These are best obtained from a primary care doctor, but sometimes those professionals may be unaware of recent risks. So come armed to your appointment with information from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC.gov), which posts alerts about outbreaks of disease in all corners of the globe. Simply click on “Travelers Health” and then “Destinations.” There’s a section for travellers and another for clinicians; it’s the better part of wisdom to quickly scan both. For a secondary source, I find the website TripPrep.com to be quite good. It, too, posts a destination-by-destination list of risks, along with consular advice on such issues as terrorism threats, natural disasters and more. 2. Remember fluids: We’re talking sunscreen and water. The most common travel illnesses by far occur when travellers overdo their exposure to the sun. So be sure you apply and reapply sunscreen, especially after swimming or heavy sweating. And keep pounding the water. There are now reusable water bottles out there (like S’well, among others) that keep water miraculously cold and are far more eco-friendly than one-use plastic bottles of water. Just make sure that the water you have access to is safe (not a given in some destinations). When not, you can use water purification tablets to make your water potable. 3. Avoid fluids: Sounds contradictory, I know, but in countries like India and Mexico, the water may have pathogens in it that Westerners aren’t used to, and which make them sick. Most remember not to drink tap water in such places, but may slip up gulping water in the shower or eating unpeeled fruits that have been washed in local water. The key is to eat cooked foods primarily (or peeled fruits), and make sure that any water you have has been purified. If the worst happens and you do get ill while away from home, the two websites listed in this article have resources for finding English-speaking local physicians.