How to Avoid Traveler's Diarrhea Naturally

How to Avoid Travelers Diarrhea Naturally

A severe type of gastroenteritis — variously called Turista, 'Montezuma's revenge' and 'holiday tummy' — afflicts many who travel to tropical and subtropical regions. It probably has many causes but most often seems to be due to bacteria called Escherichia coli. A few commonsense precautions will decrease your chances of falling ill with traveler's diarrhea or at least reduce its severity.

Always wash your hands before eating. Drink bottled water (make sure that the seal on the bottle is broken in your presence). Use bottled water for brushing teeth. Eat well-cooked dishes. Pass up raw vegetables, fruits not peeled in your presence, ice in your drinks, and cold meat, custards, mayonnaise and shellfish in areas where refrigeration is questionable. Avoid like poison those luscious outdoor buffet dinners featured at tropical resort hotels. Often, the food is kept out for long periods, and the flies get to it before you do.

Questionable water can be sterilized by boiling for ten minutes or using iodine compounds available for the purpose. Hot water from the tap or from water filters is not reliable.

Antacids may also set you up for traveler's diarrhea. Two people traveling abroad developed brucellosis (a type of infection) after eating dairy products — and they were the only two people among their fellow travelers who were taking antacids. The doctor who reported the cases said that brucellosis bacteria are usually tamed by stomach acid, but in this instance, there probably wasn't enough acid to do the trick. And, he pointed out, the low levels of stomach acid produced by antacids may also target a person for traveler's diarrhea and other diarrhoea-causing bacterial infections that tourists sometimes pick up, such as amoebic dysentery and cholera (Lancet).

If you're looking for a safe, sanitary place to eat and sleep, ask the airline crew where they are staying. Many airlines exercise some control over the facilities used by their people, and they are careful. Having an aircraft grounded in a remote part of the world by the crew's diarrhea would be an embarrassment to the crew and an expense to the airline.

What if, despite your precautions, you do fall ill? You can generally secure competent medical or dental care while traveling by asking the nearest medical or dental school for the name of a doctor or dentist, or you could contact the nearest British embassy or consulate.

Since activated charcoal stifles bacteria in the intestines, some doctors recommend it for traveler's diarrhea. 'Charcoal is an excellent remedy for traveler's diarrhea, ' says Marjorie Baldwin, a doctor at the Wildwood Sani-atrium and Hospital in Georgia.

One last pointer: The most important time to protect your health may be after you have returned your luggage to the wardrobe and the quaint villages have become a happy memory. If you get sick after returning home, be sure to mention your trip to your doctor. Travelers back from the tropics may six months or later, develop unusual illnesses that most doctors have never seen.

(See also DIARRHEA)