Traveling Infections
Traveling around the world can be dangerous as infections that are a distant memory in the United States may be contracted elsewhere. If you want to have only pleasant memories about your journey it is better to know which microscopic invaders hide at your destination and make plans to avoid them. In this article, we will examine several common infections that plague travelers, including:
- Cholera. It can be contracted as a result of eating food or drinking water contaminated with V. cholerae bacteria in a country without adequate water and sewage treatment (like Africa, India, and Latin America). This disease is characterized by severe dehydration and often diarrhea. Fortunately, cholera doesn’t affect the intestines’ ability to absorb fluids, and a full recovery is almost guaranteed.
- Hookworms. Hookworms’ eggs usually enter skin through the toes while you are walking barefoot in the soil or sand, and form raised red spots, itchy lines, or blisters on the affected areas. Yet hookworms are rarely dangerous enough to demand treatment.
- Dengue. This disease is passed along by mosquitoes which bite one human contracted with the virus and then pass it on to their next one, also through a bite. Dengue often develops into a rash or pain in the eyes or joints. A more severe form of the disease, called dengue hemorrhagic fever, can cause a fever with a duration up to a week as well as bleeding or bruising. There is no treatment for dengue, and the illness usually clears up on its own.
- Malaria. The parasite that causes the disease is carried by female mosquitoes and lives in your liver. Even immediate symptoms of malaria don’t show immediately, the parasite eventually ruptures your red blood cells, causing high fever, chills, head and muscle aches, fatigue, vomiting, diarrhea, and anemia. Fortunately, malaria can be effectively neutralized with prescription drugs.
- Traveler’s Diarrhea. It is almost always caused by bacteria, parasite or virus found in food or water that has been contaminated and not adequately purified. This infection leads to watery stools, stomach cramps, low-grade fever, and sometimes even nausea and vomiting. Though it usually clears up within a few days, diarrhea should be taken seriously because it can lead to severe dehydration.
- Typhoid fever travels through food and water infected with Salmonella typhi, often through contact with the feces of an infected person. Fever caused by typhoid can reach as high as 104 degrees, and sometimes a rash of flat, red spots is formed. If treated with antibiotics, typhoid can disappear within a few days. Without treatment it is terminal.
- Yellow fever (jaundice). This disease is spread by infected Aedes mosquitoes. While the recovery occurs within three to four days, the virus can cause bleeding, heart problems, liver or kidney failure, or even brain dysfunction. There is no medical cure for yellow fever, only ways to ease the symptoms. As yellow fever can be terminal it’s highly recommended to get a yellow fever vaccination before you to travel to an affected area, namely sub-Saharan Africa or tropical South America.