It’s a pandemic, because there are like, 898 cases worldwide, right? (WHO calculation of worldwide confirmed H1N1 cases as of 5/3/09).
Pardon me for yawning at the latest headlines screaming panic over the dreaded H1N1 flu strain, which prior to its modifier make-over, was called ‘swine flu.’ It’s not that I don’t have any interest in topics of concern to my well being. It’s that I tend to take the opposite view of the Biden health prescription, which seems to be a run for the hills approach.
Is the media hype warranted? If you read this site, it’s a fair guess that you travel extensively. So, as an experienced traveler, you’re probably familiar with the fact that it’s a sick world beyond our First World, affluent, government-protected borders.
In my ‘day’ job, I work for an international humanitarian agency. Our people regularly travel to the farthest corners of the world — many of them places you’ve never heard of until they appear on CNN suffering from droughts, tsunamis, civil unrest, famine or AIDS.
In my travels, I’ve encountered many situations that are heart-breaking and heart-lifting, but also some that are potentially heart-stopping. Every trip begins with a visit to the Johns Hopkins Travel Medicine office. Every itinerary item is assessed for disease potential. If your local hospital is equipped with such a unit and you’re traveling overseas for the first time, or to a new area, consider making that your first stop. (Note: Many prevention therapies have to start weeks before departure to be effective).
For many of my colleagues, trips are defined less by country name than by possibilities for infection – so my Viet Nam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand-Hong Kong route was more like the Avian flu-cholera-dengue fever-TB- Hep C-malaria-Japanese encephalitis itinerary. And yet, we go, everyday, into the lion’s den of disease.
Americans are used to navigating their daily lives in a very safe environment, inoculated against just about all of the potentially harmful childhood diseases and most of the merely inconvenient ones, like chicken pox. The United States has also virtually eradicated many diseases that run rampant in other countries where sanitation, safe water, pest control, and access to medical care are more limited.
It might surprise you to know that polio, plague [1994, India; 1995-1998 & 2008, Madagascar; 2006, California & Utah; 2007, New Mexico; 2009 Algeria (Al Qaeda training camp)] and even leprosy still exist in other places in the world. (Leprosy has been eradicated from 116 of 122 countries as of 2005). Measles continues to persist in other countries but rarely occurs here. Malaria is generally unknown to most Americans domestically, but should be your first thought when traveling to Asia, Africa and many Latin and South American countries.
And these are just the illnesses you can contract with your clothes on! Anyone traveling overseas should bear in mind that syphilis, HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases can be endemic in many foreign areas. So it may be a good thing you return to your hotel too tired to do anything but sleep.
There are many oft repeated common sense ways to avoid getting sick in a foreign country. Wash your hands frequently, travel with alcohol gels (in your checked bags, of course!), drink only safe water (assume most is not), be leery of food from street vendors, and mitigate contact with pests and critters by using nets, repellants and covering clothes. One gem of wisdom a million-miler imparted to me years ago was to remember that the water on the plane was local, brought on wherever the plane last landed. Ditto for the food.
There is value in being risk adverse, but don’t let unreasonable fear hold you back from experiencing new things. Take sensible precautions. Check the state department’s website for current travel information for your destination. Check with your insurance company to determine coverage while in certain countries and what type of services will be provided. Buy travel health insurance.
Like everyone else, I am monitoring the still unfolding situation. And I wouldn’t advise anyone to travel anywhere they feel uncomfortable about because you simply can’t enjoy a trip taken with a sense of dread. But I’m also mindful of the fact that current world population is 6,777,256,777 which means those 898 infected folks are only about .000013 percent of the global population. For most studies a sample that small would be considered insignificant.
So while reasonable precautions are in order, wide-spread panic is not. Every day in this country alone more people die of cancer (559,312), heart disease (856,030), accidents (117,809), diabetes (75,119), staph infections (18,700), and even hospital errors (195,000). (2005 yearly figures from CDC)
I have always made taking care of my health a vital part of my travel agenda. I take pains to be informed and proactive. Even if those flu numbers creep up, I’m confident that when the current crisis comes under control, I’ll be on my way again.
In the midst of all these evasive measures there is one other thing you should take with you in your travels: compassion. Americans are comparatively lucky folks. People all over the world spend their lives avoiding illness with the same dedication that we only reserve for dodging rush hour traffic.
