More than lost luggage, or a lost credit card, getting sick while away from home can totally scuttle your travel plans. Traveling can bring special health concerns you don’t normally need to deal with at home.
Whether you’re taking a weekend off, or a travel odyssey, when you’re in a new place adjusting to the food, water, and a new environment it’s easier to get sick than at home. Traveling often brings you in contact with diseases and conditions your body doesn’t generally encounter.
Mark Twain said, “Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.” Hopefully my top 10 tips for enjoying a healthy trip contain none.
1. When planning your trip, it’s never too early to learn about the potential health risks you could encounter at your destination(s). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has an area on their website devoted to traveler’s health.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has a country by country assessment of their member countries health situation, including data on disease outbreaks and crises.
The US State Department has country specific information which includes health, medical facilities and medical insurance information.
2. Regardless of where you’re traveling, you may need to obtain vaccinations to prevent you from contracting a variety of diseases while away, and conform to government regulations. Check the CDC website. The Public Health Agency of Canada also has an excellent travel health website.
Speak with your physician about vaccinations.
Many vaccinations don’t become immediately effective, and some aren’t readily available, such as the yellow fever vaccinations, so don’t wait until the last minute to get them. If your physician can’t provide the immunizations, or direct you to a clinic, if you’re in the US, use the CDC clinic page.
Make sure you know the vaccination requirements for each country you’re visiting. Even if you’ve only visited a country for a day or two, another country you’re visiting might have a vaccination requirement for visitors to the prior country.
3. Make sure you have health insurance coverage when you travel. Outside your home country, your health insurance may not provide coverage. For example, US Medicare and Medicaid provide no health coverage whatsoever, outside the US.
You may need to purchase supplemental health insurance to cover you while traveling.
When choosing travel health insurance, try to purchase coverage which includes medical evacuation costs. Medevac transportation can be very expensive.
4. Make sure you have an adequate supply of every medication you take regularly or may need while traveling, including if your stay must be extended for an emergency.
Prescription medications should be in their original container and clearly labeled. According to the medication, travelers should check with their country’s embassy in the country they are visiting to make sure any required medications are not considered to be illegal narcotics.
Pack your medications in your carry-on luggage to ensure your continued access to it, in case of emergency, or lost or delayed luggage.
5. If you take prescription medication regularly or have a preexisting medical condition, have available a complete medical history describing your medical condition(s) and any medications, including the generic names of prescribed drugs. Have available the names and contact information for your physician(s).
I’m a member of the Medic Alert Foundation, a nonprofit emergency medical information service. They have a copy of all my medical information and can provide them to medical professionals, worldwide, 24×7.
6. Take appropriate medications with you to handle health emergencies. Talk with your physician about your trip and what medications you should take with you.
Diarrhea and seriously upset stomachs are the most common travel related illnesses. Dehydration from diarrhea is especially serious for the traveler. I definitely take medication with me to combat these illnesses.
7. Take a travel first aid kit. The American Red Cross has an excellent description of what should be included in your first aid kit.
8. In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner there is a line, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” In many developing countries that’s absolutely true for travelers, unless we’re talking about “bottled water.” Even in Europe, I drink “bottled water” as tap water, while generally safe, is different than the water I’m used to.
In developing countries avoid drinking or even brushing your teeth with tap water. Drink and use bottled water. Make sure you check that the cap is securely sealed when you buy it. In restaurants, diplomatically ask your server to open the bottle in front of you to make sure they aren’t refilling the bottles.
Do not take ice in your drinks, unless you are certain it’s frozen “bottled water.”
If you can’t buy bottled water, sterilize it by boiling or dropping in purification tablets or iodine, or use a SteriPen, which is what I take on every trip. Don’t bother with water filters. I don’t know of any, which filter out viruses like Hepatitis A and E.
9. Avoid ice cream, raw seafood, food kept warm, unpasteurized dairy products, salads and other uncooked food, unless you can peel or shell it yourself. Rampant diarrhea often comes from unhygienic food.
Eat in busy local restaurants. The fast turnover helps keep fresh food safe where refrigeration may be questionable. It may also mean the food there is good, inexpensive or perhaps both.
10. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT), where a blood clot forms in one of the veins deep inside the leg, which can come loose and travel to the heart or brain, affects from 3-5% of air travelers, according to studies. That’s as many as dozen or so passengers on a wide-bodied jet. Overweight, elderly (over 65), smokers, and pregnant passengers are more susceptible to DVT than other passengers.
If you fall into one of these categories, speak to your physician about preventing DVT when you fly.
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
