WaterFilter.com

Travelling Overseas – Staying Healthy

Every year, millions of people visit developing countries. Of these, many are business people looking for new opportunities.

With a myriad of development potential available in the Asian region, business people are flocking overseas in order to get in at the ground floor. Many travel to these regions on a regular basis, exposing themselves to diseases ranging from differing strains of hepatitis to typhoid and polio.

Unfortunately, many of these diseases are not discriminating - they can be caught even when staying in 5-star accommodation. Also, some of them require long convalescent periods. For example, hepatitis A can mean an absence from work of up to 8 weeks, depending on the severity of the attack.

The problem facing business people and travellers is that often they have not been exposed to a wide range of infections. This means they have little or no natural immunity to diseases common in other parts of the world.

For example, even when staying at resort-standard hotels in areas such as Taiwan, the traveller still has a 1 in 300 chance of developing hepatitis A. Budget travellers increase their risk by as many as six times.

The sensible solution is to make sure you receive the recommended vaccinations for any overseas country you visit. It is important, however, to realize that for many vaccines to be totally effective, a series of doses over an extended period of time are required. For example, hepatitis B vaccines usually require a couple of months before they reach their full effectiveness.

Vaccination is not the only precaution that should be taken when travelling in a developed country. Many diseases are transmitted through food which has been handled by a carrier of the disease. This means that uncooked vegetables, salads, raw meat, shellfish, and drinks made with water or ice are all potential health hazards, and should be approached with caution.

Other things that should be observed are the general cleanliness of the restaurant or food preparation area. A restaurant with no electricity, meat covered in flies hanging on hooks and perhaps a few stray animals wandering around is hardly likely to be a good risk!

There are also the risks that can be avoided much more easily. These include casual sexual contact, intravenous drug use and other skin piercing activities such as tattooing and ear-piercing.

It is also important that you mention to your doctor that you have been travelling overseas to developed countries if you develop any symptoms such as nausea, lethargy, fever or jaundice after your return. These can often be categorised as a flu or common virus, when in fact they may be symptoms of a hepatitis infection. With full travel details, the doctor will be more able to make a correct diagnosis and suggest necessary further testing.

With almost all health issues, the key to disease free overseas travel is common sense. If you are going to be visiting a developing area, take the time to ensure you receive the necessary vaccinations in plenty of time for your trip. After all, that small amount of forethought may prevent a great deal of trouble later on.

Copyright Felicity Walker 2005

Travelling is a much loved past time for the author. Check out http://www.worldtravelinfozone.com or http://www.worldtravelinfozone.com/international-travel-health/ for more information.

MORE ARTICLES:

Emergency Bottled Water And Purified Water
Emergency supplies of drinking water require planning to meet maximum demand during an emergency. As the world enters the tropical storm season and faces other serious emergencies that may affect the drinking water supply, federal, state and local government agencies need to plan ahead to meet peak demand.

Bergen County Residents Receive a Grand Upgrade and Clean Conscience at the Eco-Friendly Classic Auto Spa & Express Care
Bergen County residents have a grand upgrade for their car care with the opening of Classic Auto Spa & Express Care on Route 17 in Ramsey. Classic Auto Spa will be celebrating its grand opening from Friday, April 4 through Sunday, April 13, with show cars, free hot dogs, giveaways and special offers on car washes, detailing and oil changes.

Registry Edit Clean
Free Full Version Registry Cleaner: Is your computer slowing down without your knowledge? Are you having errors that are not distinguished by your anti-virus program? Your PC might be affected by applications that are running without your knowledge Now that you have done all of the above click "Find Next". A little window that says searching the registry should come up. It may take a little while to find what you are looking for so don't get impatient and close everything down. Just give it a little bit and it should bring you to the place it found an entry at. The entry should be highlighted. If you see that it refers to a place on your hard drive (C:/windows/ or something like that.) it just may be your problem. But don't delete it yet. I...

Holiday Survival Guide: Eating Healthy Amid The Festivities
As exciting as the holiday season is, there are many factors that can cause stress for those hoping to lose weight or maintain healthy eating habits. As a LAP-BAND patient, you need to practice the same healthy eating during the holiday season that you?ve included in your daily routine. However, you don?t need to deprive yourself during this special time of year. Instead, you should make a focused plan and take steps to avoid dangerous overeating during the festivities. Here is a handy survival guide to help you navigate the holidays in a healthy way and stay on track with your weight loss goals.

The Potent 2006 BMW M6 Complimented Perfectly By Top-notch BMW Replacement Parts
The BMW M6 is the most sophisticated and powerful BMW 6 Series Coupé ever. Under the lightweight body of this luxurious 2+2 lurks a thoroughbred super sports car boasting a V10, 507bhp power unit, providing 520Nm of torque.

Tivit Launches Nature's Sugar Free Snacks - Ideal Sweet Healthy Snacks for Healthy Lifestyle Living
Nature's snacks, ideal sweet healthy snacks for health-conscious people looking to add a sparkle of sweetness to their diet are made of high-quality grains and seeds that contain no sugar, no cholesterol, no trans-fatty acids and no artificial flavours, colors, or preservatives.

Infinity® from Marvin Chooses nParallel to Design and Build a New Retail Display for Dealers that Sell its Replacement Windows
nParallel Crafts a Compact, Mobile Display to Showcase Different Products in the Complete Line of Infinity® from Marvin Replacement Windows

Local Specialty Coffee Shop Offers Chance to Learn from Espresso Expert Armando
One coffee lover will learn the magic of specialty coffee preparation with espresso expert Armando.

Slim Secrets Bars Win Healthy Eating Awards
It seems Slim Secrets are no longer just that, taking out two of the highly contested Slimming & Health Healthy Eating Awards for 2008 -- best weight management product and best healthy snack.

Entrepreneur Completes Water Conservation Study
Having been in the car wash business all my life I have been overly fascinated with water, its properties, cleaning ability and abundance. But as I began my more in depth studies I learned that clean water or pure water is not quite as abundant as it should be.

Vitamin Formula Helps Women Taking Menopause Hormone Replacement
Women's Health Issues of Menopause and Hormone Imbalance Highlighted During National Women's Health Week

Be Emotionally Healthy And Live A Colorful Life!
Life without emotions is like an empty canvass. Our life should have some color once in a while, or else life would be completely dull and boring. Emotions are so important in daily life. For that reason, human emotions have been the object of research and study for thousands of years. What has changed over the years has been the general approach to this investigation. For many years, researchers in psychology focused on what seemed to be rational and what could be directly observed through physiology. Hence, emotion was neglected as it was seen as more part of mind than body.

Chinese Vegetarian Cooking
Chinese vegetarian cooking is one way individuals can enjoy great vegetarian cooking. There are many different Chinese vegetarian cooking recipes to choose from. Individuals can choose their favorite Chinese vegetarian cooking recipes, or try a new Chinese vegetarian cooking recipe. Listed here are some great Chinese vegetarian cooking recipes for individuals to try. There are more recipes available than what is listed here.

Coffee Press The Original Coffee Maker
It's been around since the late 1800's but really coming into it's own in the early 1900's, the coffee press is a hot coffee brewing device that at first glance looks very simplistic but brews a cup of coffee like no other. Ask any coffee enthusiast about a coffee press pot and chances are you're in for a chat that will last longer then just a minute or two. It's the ultimate brewer to create a fabulous smelling, aroma rich, wonderful flavored, coffee.