Useful Medical Information For Good Health Be
· Diarrhoea is caused by contaminated food and drinking-water. You must therefore be careful if your are travelling in poor hygiene conditions.
· Malaria is transmitted by mosquitoes, so the first thing to do is to protect yourself against these mosquitoes.
· Hepatitis A, typhoid fever, polio and cholera still occur in countries with poor hygiene, but these diseases are easily prevented.it's very important to disinfect drinking-water on adventure trips. Total sterilisation of drinking water is impossible. The following measures considerably reduce the contamination risk and safeguard your travel health:
Cooked meals should be served hot. Avoid tap water and ice-cubes. Bottled water and soft drinks are safe.
- Boiling the water is very effective.
For adventurous travellers conscious to travel health it's best to buy a portable water-filter. How to treat diarrhoea?
Antibiotics are indicated : Imodium? If blood, mucus or pus are present in the stools.
Or if because of travel circumstances a quicker solution is absolutely desirable . SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
Sexually transmitted diseases, particularly AIDS, form therefore an important risk for travellers. Always consult your doctor if you reckon you're at risk, even when there's no symptoms.
MALARIA (swamp fever, malaria) : Malaria only occurs in those areas in which Anopheles mosquitoes are present : in the tropics and in a large number of subtropical areas. Where does malaria occur?
In most big cities there is little or no risk at all of infection, except in Africa where a real risk exists.
How can malaria be prevented?
it's very important for travel health to avoid mosquito bites : the Anopheles mosquito only bites between dusk and dawn, is small and not very makes any noise.
there is no drug efficient to prevent malaria 100%, which means that often a combination of measures is preferable. Moreover, the advantages and disadvantages of drugs should be considered against the risk of malaria infection. The belief that "once malaria always malaria" is untrue.