MOZZIES AND MORE!

From dengue to hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), there are some interesting tropical medical matters in Singapore. Here are some first-hand experiences.

Take your precautions, use repellent, wash your hands. We’ve been fine so far, and on the upside we’ve avoided flu epidemics from back home. – Alexandra

I hope I’m not jinxing it as I speak, but we haven’t suffered from hand, foot and mouth or dengue. Having said that, Singapore has an ideal climate of a variety of pathogens especially for some very resilient bacteria. Mycoplasma is a pretty common and horrid throat infection that requires specific antibiotics and the cough lingers for weeks. – Ankita

Hand, foot and mouth is virtually unavoidable with preschoolers in Singapore! Watch out for the signs: fever, and sores in the mouth and on hands and feet. The worst part is having to deal with 14 days of quarantine at home! – Beth

I will spare you the details but I’ve had a number of Gi-related issues while living on this side of the globe so I always keep (and travel with) plenty of Pepto-bismol, Zantac 75 and Imodium as well as broad-spectrum antibiotics like Cipro. Heat rashes on long distance runs are a newer medical issue but I’ve found that Paw-paw Ointment, which comes in a red tube, clears it up in a day or so. – Dana

Luckily, we haven’t had to deal with any of these, but I never leave home without hand sanitiser, wet wipes and tissues! – Mel