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Hi,
I got a few replies regarding avoiding traveller's diarrhea. My advice was to
go to the free traveller's information site through travelsmith.com. There you
find out that they recommend taking pepto bismol, 2 tablets, 4 times a day.
This stops 60% of cases. Immodium is only used if you get diarrhea. They also
recommend taking a prescription of Cipro along, in case you get it anyway.
Also recommended by a hand-out from my doctor (and websites) is to avoid the
water, including the ice (unless made from bottled water), avoid uncooked
fruits and vegetables you don't peel yourself (may be rinsed in water) and
avoid milk products that have not been pasteurized.
Here are the interesting comments I received:
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I have lived abroad and travelled extensively....a few comments.
It is INSANE to "build up" by drinking a liitle of the water each day. You are
needlessly exposing yourself to various parasites. Not a smart move. I got
such a parasite when I worked in Korea and wound up losing 11 lbs in one
day..both ends.
I don't go for the pepto....instead
1. get a nasa approved water filter available in sports stores. It makes mud
potable and you can use it for weeks as opposed to the tablets which are added
to water...you can only use those for 2 weeks...very potent and risky.
2. take probiotics complex..one with each meal. This will keep your flaor and
fauna happy and will stave off stomach upsets.
3. re milk and cheese....eat no cow's milk products. This hint comes from my
md, a world traveller. He said that we don't so much get sick from
asturezied/non pasteurized but rather from the fact that different strains cows
with their different levels of butterfat. When I first arrived in Korea to
work for the Dept of Defense, I got deathly ill on the dried milk...it was
almost like drinking cream...When I returned home, I had another bout of
diarrhea while making the adjustment to local milk. This was really proven to
me the last time I traveled to Brasil over Christmas. Usually I spent one day
worshipping "at the shrine of the white porcelain goddess". This time,
however, no milk/cheese and no sickness..at
all!
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Hi Diane, just wanted to make a (perhaps) informative comment. As a medical
student I have been studying infectious diseases. I have learned that
traveler's diarrhea has a fairly simple basis. Everyone has "normal" flora
bacteria. And different parts of the world have different "normal" flora. So
when traveling you come into contact with different bacterial than usual and
often, one becomes ill. Unfortunately, this isn't the sort of illness one
becomes "immune" to upon exposure, but can happen time and time again until--
you start to colonize some of this bacteria as "normal" flora in you OR you
develop an efficient immune
response to it. So the idea of having a little water each day could work in some
people but I am prone to thinking this could backlash in many people if they
were to drink in enough bacteria to cause an infection. You are quite right and
smart to avoid these bacteria as much as possible while in non-local areas with
endemic bacteria!
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I know a gal who loves to travel. She's so funny. She works as a nurse just
long enough to raise the money for her next adventure abroad. After suffering
from several bad bouts of traveler's diarrhea, she was given a tip that has
saved her from any more episodes. As soon as she arrives, she searches for
locally made cultured milk products -- yogurt, sour cream, kefir, butter milk,
etc. She consumes these liberally and NEVER gets diarrhea anymore.
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Diane, PA
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