Four years ago, Earl and Beth Warren left Calgary for Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on a week-long, high-end vacation to celebrate a winter wedding anniversary. The resort was beautiful, the weather was perfect — but the holiday was a disaster.
“Either at the resort or someplace in town, I ate or drank something I shouldn't have,” Earl recalls. “By the third day of the trip, I was either sitting on, or driving, the porcelain bus and calling for seals. I was pretty well sick for the rest of the week.”
Warren's story is far from unique. The No. 1 infectious disease contracted in Mexico and the Caribbean continues to be traveller's diarrhea, according to Toronto General Hospital's Centre for Travel and Tropical Medicine. As many as 50 per cent of travellers to Mexico will get diarrhea of varying severity and, while the risk varies from island to island, the rate for the Caribbean as a whole is 15 to 20 per cent. As travel-medicine professionals are fond of saying: “Travel expands the mind, but loosens the bowels.”
While gastroenteritis and stomach bugs top the list of potential health woes for travellers, other dangers range from parasites and deep-vein thrombosis to motorbike injuries. Here, then, is a checklist for coming back alive and well this winter:
Watch what you eat and drink
Most Canadians “will continue to be under the impression that food and water in winter sun destinations is safe, and many will continue to return sick,” says Mark Wise, a Toronto family physician who specializes in travel medicine.
“I doubt if anything has changed this year. Not every destination or resort is bad, but travellers should go prepared to be selective with their food and water and make personal decisions about whether or not they will eat anything in the uncooked salad bar, or the peeled-fruit bar, or touch that crème caramel that's been sitting out by the pool for six hours.”
Some simple rules:
Stick to freshly and thoroughly cooked foods and fruit that you can peel or slice open.
Avoid salads, seafood canapés, rare meat, raw fish and anything cooled by adding ice.
Keep your hands clean.
Stick to bottled water, soft drinks (without ice) or beer.
Be prepared to treat yourself for diarrhea: pack Imodium and a supply of antibiotics from your doctor, and know the importance of staying hydrated.
Get those shots
Every traveller to the tropics should be vaccinated against hepatitis A. Travel-medicine professionals say the chance of getting this infection is about one in 1,000 for every week of travel, even for those staying in tourist resorts. Those who also want to guard against hepatitis B — mostly endangering those who have sexual contact with locals or receive injections abroad — can get a course of a combined vaccine called Twinrix.
Vaccines are also available for typhoid, yellow fever and polio.
Dodge the buzz
Malaria and dengue fever are the main insect-borne diseases for travellers to be aware of in Asia, Africa, Central and South America and some countries of the Caribbean. Malaria, especially, is a potential killer and, on average, 1,000 Canadians contract the disease each year while travelling. It's important to cover up and use insect repellent containing DEET, especially in early morning and late afternoon. Sleep under a mosquito net if your room is not air-conditioned and the windows are open.
Less common and less deadly, but highly irritating, are dog or cat hookworms that can be picked up if you walk around barefoot.
Exercise on long flights
Airlines dispute the exact link between long flights and deep-vein thrombosis, but the increased risk of developing blood clots from sitting for long periods of time in a cramped space has been known for years.
