Travel Health Infomation, Travel Tips, Travel Health Help, Treal Food and Water, Jet Lag, Travel Insurance, Medical Advice.

Travel Health

Holidays are to be enjoyed, whether you are looking for fun, relaxation, action or adventure!
For the business traveller, priorities are different, but the experience should nonetheless be comfortable and pleasant.

Injury and illness on holiday can be a misery - from painful sunburn to the infamous dodgy tummy and with no home comforts or familiar remedies, it really can make or break a trip.

The information in this section is aimed at helping you stay safe and well while you are abroad.

General Travel Health Information

Travellers to developing countries should start with long term basic health protection. This means vaccinations against Polio, Tetanus, Typhoid and Hepatitis A.

Other vaccinations will depend on where you are going, local conditions at that time, and your anticipated environment. Visitors to Yellow Fever areas such as West Africa should definitely be vaccinated against it.

Consult a health specialist or a travel advisory service and start early, a series of jabs may take up to six weeks to complete, so get on with it! Check links for the latest news. Some Links: Montecito | Cayo | Gilroy | Ridgecrest | Qinghai | Gibsons | Big Bear City | Sydney | Seward | Maidenhead | Glen Ellen

General tips:

• Buy adequate and appropriate Travel Insurance.
• Check the Department of Health general medical advice for travellers.
• Check what vaccinations you need with your GP at least six weeks before you travel.
• Check if your medication is legal in the country that you are visiting.
• Pack all medication in your hand luggage.
• If you are taking prescribed medication take the prescription and a doctors letter with you.
• If you are Travelling within the EU, get form EHIC from the post office for reduced or free emergency care. But remember you still need travel insurance.
• Be safe in the Sun. Avoid excessive sunbathing, especially between 11am and 3pm and wear a high factor sunscreen.
• Drink plenty of water. If you drink alcohol or use some kinds of drugs your body can become dehydrated, especially in a hot climate.
• Practice safe sex - always use a condom. Ensure that you pack a supply before you go as they are not always as readily available abroad and quality can differ from country to country.
• Find out the local emergency number and the address of the nearest hospital when you arrive overseas. Your rep, local guide or accommodation manager should know.
• Don't take large quantities of cash with you. Take travellers cheques and/or credit cards (make sure you have your emergency numbers with you to cancel the cards if necessary).
• Conceal any valuable jewellery - don't be an easy target for thieves or muggers.

Travel Health Help

For years, travelers and outdoor enthusiasts have been in a constant battle with bothersome and sometimes dangerous insects. By far, the most dangerous of all insects is the common mosquito. For most people, mosquito bites are just an itchy annoyance but for millions of travelers, they can be a deadly transmitter of malaria, Japanese encephalitis, Dengue fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever, and a host of other terrible diseases.

Naturally, we are well aware that a mosquito bite will have us itching like mad. There are a number of methods to soothe the itching like calamine lotion, aloe vera, or simply rubbing an aspirin over the bite. But while we are busy medicating the outside, the same bite can also infect a traveler with a harmful, sometimes deadly virus.

Fortunately, protecting oneself from these pesky and hazardous insects is now easier than ever. Although immunizations and malarial prophylactics are an important part of any backpacker's safety strategy, it's best to avoid the insect bites altogether. The easiest and most efficient way to do this is by carrying a small, lightweight, and inexpensive mosquito net that is treated as per World Health Organization guidelines. Although occasionally places of accommodations in high risk areas may provide you with a mosquito net, you should never gamble with your health. Who knows if these nets are properly treated with insecticide or worse, torn. Owning one's own mosquito net gives the backpacker the peace of mind and assurances he/she needs. Read more news about tour, please contact Travel Health Help.

Hot Links: San Carlos | Banff | Rosarito | Boxborough | Safaris | Cabins | North Conway | Dartmouth | | Fredericton

Food and Drink

Water: In developing countries avoid drinking or even brushing your teeth with tap water. Drink bottled water and check that the cap is securely sealed when you buy it. Turning it upside down and watching for drips is one method of checking. If you can't buy it, sterilize it by boiling or dropping in purification tablets or iodine. Do not take ice in your drinks, unless it is clearly frozen mineral water. Tea, coffee, soft drinks and booze are fine from a bacterial point of view, though not so fine from a dehydration standpoint. Don't share water bottles with other travellers unless you want to share their bugs too. Water filters are ok in theory but can break easily and usually don't filter some serious viruses, such as Hepatitis A and E.

Everybody knows that the tap water supply overseas may be questionable and so they would never dream of drinking from the taps in their bedrooms. Nevertheless we often hear that travellers have used this same water for brushing their teeth. This is not good practice, since water will be absorbed from your mouth very rapidly no matter whether or not you actually swallow.

Food: Avoid ice cream from dodgy sources, raw fish, food kept warm, salads and uncooked food - unless you can peel it or shell it yourself. Most cases of rampant diarrhoea come from unhygienic food, not unclean water.

Eat freshly cooked hot food (physically hot that is - not spicy hot). If the food is hot and fresh then the risk of contamination is very small and your stomach will be protected.

Cold foods (either salads or cold meats) can easily be infected with a variety of organisms such as bacteria, viruses and parasites. Hot Links: Stuttgart | Hyannis | Ferrara | Northglenn | Bay City | Port Saint Lucie | Coos Bay | Viareggio | Lewiston | Kerry | Wuhan Hotels

Stay away from lettuce and undercooked shellfish. These two are the main culprits and responsible for many a spoiled trip overseas. Oysters, shrimps, prawns and mussels are frequently harvested from infected waters and then mildly steamed in preparation for human consumption. This steaming will not sterilise them and you will frequently end up eating what amounts to raw human sewage - not a very pleasant thought!

Check out the restaurant before you order your meal. Look to see if the tables are clean and the cutlery is sparkling. If you are unsure be careful and try to find another eating establishment where possible. Probably a wise precaution is to take a visit to the toilets. If they are well maintained, then you can usually be assured that the care taken in the kitchens will be of a higher standard.

Choose food from the menu that you recognise and make certain all meat is very well cooked. None of this eating rare bloody steaks while overseas. If you are not convinced we can point you in the direction of many patients who have come home infected with 20-foot long tapeworms! Despite your request, if your meat dish is still bloody on arrival send it back for reheating - just make sure that you get your own meal back! (Cut a wedge out of one corner).

In regions where the tap water is untreated (smell for chlorine) don't use ice in your drinks. Again this ice will be made from tap water and so may be contaminated.

In some of the 'better' Hotels they will provide a jug of 'fresh' water each day. Treat this with extreme caution and only use this water for washing your face if necessary. Frequently this jug will have been filled from a tap down the corridor - rather like the one in your bedroom! More Links: Garda | Hunan Hotels | Car Reservation | Gatlinburg | Hunan | Cupertino

Bottled mineral water is a much safer option so long as the bottle is well sealed.

One of the other major pitfalls from drinking overseas comes from buying 'freshly squeezed' juices from roadside stalls. Often as the coach pulls to a stop they will have seen that they have too little juice for the travellers so they may top up the drink with ordinary tap water and some sugar.

Eating in local restaurants in developing countries:

• Start acclimatising your intestines slowly. e.g. First day, don't eat street. Second day, try a small well cooked snack. etc etc.
• Eat where it's busy. This means that turnover is fast so fresh food has less chance to go off in a hot climate [with little or no refrigeration]. It also means that the food is good or cheap or both!

Suffering Ramases Revenge?

The Inca Two-step? Delhi Belly? aka diarrhoea...If there is time, do the natural cure: Drink a lot of water. For maximum absorption of water generally, add 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and 3 teaspoons of sugar to a litre [2 quarts] of water, and in the case of Ramases Revenge, double the salt and sugar levels. [Don't take salt tablets, they can cause stomach irritation and vomiting].

Don't eat for half a day at least, and then restart solids slowly, with plain, easily digested foods such as boiled, watery rice or plain bread. This will encourage your body to develop a stronger health defence system and Ramases will have more difficulty next time.

If you're in a hurry Lomotil or similar works well - but doesn't kill the bug; it just stops your insides turning to water every thirty minutes. Hot Links: Balch Springs | Brattleboro | Sevierville | Deland | South Padre Island | Winnipeg | Cancun

Jet lag

Any travel, especially if it involves travel at night, may be associated with sleep disruption and subsequent fatigue. However, flight across time zones results in different body rhythms that are not initially synchronised with the day-night cycles at the time zone of destination. This causes the combination of daytime sleepiness and night-time alertness, the major features of jetlag. Symptoms of jet lag are common with time zone changes of 5 hours or more. Problems of jet lag may also increase with age.

Combating Jet Lag before Departure Have 2 to 3 good nights sleep before travelling. Choose best flights for sleep - direct flights are usually during 'Home' daytime. If you're not able to sleep on flights, have a nap the afternoon of the flight. Symptoms can include Fatigue, Mood disturbance, Anorexia, Gastrointestinal symptoms.

In general westward flight direction is better tolerated.

As a rule of thumb its takes one day for every hour time difference to recover.
During the Flight.

Set your watch to the destination time. If possible sleep and eat according to this time.
At Destination.

ry to sleep at local night time.

• Restrict alcohol intake.
• Allow nap opportunities for 40 minutes during the day for the first few days.
• Expose yourself to sunlight and exercise.
• Consume caffeine drinks during the day but avoid them 4 to 6 hours prior to sleep.
• Use sleeping tablets if required.

Travel Insurance

As the case study shows, things can go wrong on holiday. You could fall ill or have an accident; you could have money or luggage stolen; your visit might be cancelled or cut short through injury or illness; your family may need to fly out to be with you if there is a serious incident. All these risks and more can be covered by taking out travel insurance. Hot Links: Rockport | Stockport | Crossett | Bideford | Hefei

However, you should check the small print of your insurance policy very carefully to see if any exclusions might apply. Exclusions could include injury or death through acts of terrorism or nature; accidents caused through drinking alcohol or engaging in dangerous sports (and the list of these varies from policy to policy); or problems arising from a previous illness that you have not declared to the insurer. If you are not sure whether you are covered for any of the above, you should check with your insurer.

Travel insurance can be arranged months in advance of a trip, and our fully trained and friendly staffs are happy to provide advice and general information as well as issuing quotes and policies.

Travel insurance is one type of insurance you are guaranteed to use. We need medical attention from time to time, and some of us need it quite often. When it is needed, you want to focus on getting better ­ not on how you are going to come up with the money to pay your medical bills. A good travel insurance plan allows you to focus on what's most important, your physical well being.

The five locations where injuries are most likely to occur are as follows:

• Roads. The Beach.
• Hotels.
• Remote locations.
• Ski slopes.

Is there anyone who doesn't need travel insurance?

Even if you're young, healthy and haven't had to see a physician in years, you never know when you might be involved in an accident or be diagnosed with a serious medical condition. While your health coverage will pay for things that aren't too costly like routine doctor's visits or lab tests, the main reason to have coverage is to have protection against the potentially tragic cost of serious injury or illness. Visit Travel Insurers for more article about text.

You may consider it as an annoyance and an extra expense, and hopefully you may never need to use it - but travel insurance is vital if you are going abroad. Travel insurance takes much of the stress out of unforeseen events (such as loss of valuable or luggage, delay or cancellation), as well as protecting you against the (often very high) cost of medical treatment. You might decide not to buy travel insurance because you think you're covered elsewhere. But you need to make sure that you're adequately protected. Don't be tricked into thinking that the travel accident insurance that comes with your credit card gives you full travel coverage - it doesn't.

Altitude Sickness

Otherwise known as AMS, Acute Mountain Sickness. Here are some popular destinations where you might get AMS without climbing mountains : Peru, Bolivia, Mexico, Tibet. The problem is lack of oxygen and is especially relevant to smokers and those with heart problems.

Symptoms: Stage :dizziness, nausea, headaches, insomnia, breathlessness, loss of appetite. Cure: rest, eat well, drink lots of water and don't ascend further. You'll be fine in a couple of days. Probably. Stage 2: dry cough, vomiting, confusion, loss of balance and co-ordination. Pulmonary oedema. Hot Link: Kaliningrad | Acapulco | Redington Beach | Colusa

Cure: AMS comes on slowly - over a day or two days so descend! or see a doctor for medication.

Prevention:

• ascend slowly e.g.. In the case of Peru, go to Arequipa for 2/3 days before Puno/Cuzco.
• get fit .
• get a prescription for acetazolamide[diamox] and start taking it before the trip.
• chew coca or drink coca tea [in Peru/Bolivia]
• homoeopathic health advisors suggest taking aconite 6c to treat initial symptoms and arsenicum album 6c for further help. Both together is fine, x 4 per day, Amax 4 doses. An iron supplement, Floridax, and/or ginkgo biloba, taken daily for 2 weeks before travel are also supposed to help.

The Sun

You know the rules by now. What could be emphasised more, however, is that there is no point in lying around in the sun at midday in the tropics or subtropics. This will not only earn you a good chance in the melanoma lottery and add an unpleasant red highlight to your tan, but it will probably burn the tan off altogether after a few days.

You will brown up more smoothly and lastingly by sunbathing [if you must] before 11am and after 3pm. And you may live longer too.

'I never thought the price of getting a tan would be so high' Anna West, 21, speaking a week before dying of skin cancer.

Don't go in the sun in the middle of the day, and be especially careful when swimming, snorkelling [wear a T shirt], motor-biking, and getting wrecked on the beach.

Force yourself to drink water, lots of it, if you want to avoid headaches and lethargy from dehydration. And no, beer will have the opposite effect by dehydrating you even more.

Water requirements at home are 6 glasses per day, so multiply that figure by at least 3 in tropical environment. p.s. Recent research in the US suggests that skin care products containing AHAs [alpha hydroxy acids] increase the skin's sensitivity to sunlight in some cases, so be particularly careful about applying sun protection if there are AHAs in your choice of skin creams. Hot Links: Garda | Rockport | Beech Mountain | Sonora | Coalinga | Poipu | Sunnyvale | Allenspark | Shanxi

Medical Advice

If you are unsure about you health or the health of relatives, travelling companions or that of a close business associate you should contact the Central Healthcheck service for advice. In addition some airlines or other carriers will not allow ill people to travel unless they are confirmed as fit to travel by their registered medical practitioner. Other important advice is summarised as follows.

Check before you travel what vaccinations are required. If you do not have a valid vaccination certificate, you may not be allowed entry to the country.

Be aware of what FREE medical treatment you are entitled to, particularly in EU countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Ensure that you use adequate sun tan lotion and apply it liberally, especially on young children - blisters do not look good in the middle of your tan.

To avoid dehydration, wear a sun hat and drink plenty of water. NB caffeine and alcohol contribute TOWARDS dehydration and should not be considered as part of you liquid intake.

Always use a high factor sun cream at the beginning of your holiday, even if you tan easily. Then use lower factors after day 2 or 3. This will not only help against dehydration, but also protect against blisters caused by sun burn.

Taking a small first aid kit with you may also be helpful.

Carry your form E111 whilst in EU countries and seek medical treatment at public hospitals where the form E111 is accepted and you will get free treatment (generally you only be asked to pay for pharmacy and dental treatment).

If in doubt ask... we have provided a small list of telephone numbers, addresses and websites to help if you feel the need.

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