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Health Care
The Trouble Creators:
| Carried by Insects- ·1 Dengue ·2 Japanese encephalitis ·3 Malaria ·4 Plague |
Carried in Food or Water- ·1 Cholera ·2 Escherichia coli diarrhoea ·3 Hepatitis A ·4. Typhoid Fever |
Person-to-Person Contact- ·1 Hepatitis B ·2 HIV / AIDS |
Precautions to be Taken:
Vaccinations-
Do not forget to take these vaccines before you set for India or for that
matter any place across the globe. Give your self enough time for these
shots to take effect (aproximately four to six weeks).
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As needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles,
and a one-time dose of polio for adults.
Follow these to stay healthy-
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The useful tip: Remember: Boil it, Cook it, Peel it, or
Forget it.
Aviod These-
·1 Don't eat food purchased from street vendors.
·2 Don't drink beverages with ice.
·3 Don't eat dairy products unless you know they have been
pasteurized.
·4 Don't share needles with anyone.
·5 Don't handle animals, avoid bites.
·6 Don't swim in fresh water. Salt water is usually safer.
When you have returned:
While on the journey itself, make a list of the places which have been
visited. when you return to your home town hand over this list to your
medical advisor. This will help him to determine what infections you might
have contracted. If those areas have been visited which were affected by
malaria, dengue or some other disease, continue taking medicines for the
prescribed period. It is essential that course of medicine be completed so
that there is no risk of disease making you the host.
Drinking water and preacutions to be taken:
Though authorities try their best to provide safe drinking water at the
major tourist destinations bad maintainenace and poor hygine sense spoils
all the good efforts. At many place even ground is not fit for drinking.
In some places the iron content is more at others water is salty or the
sulphate content is more in a nut shell water is not safe to drink. Thus,
the only solution in sight are the mineral water bottles. But is the stay
is long then bottled water is too costly further you have to depend on the
supply and availabilty.
It is better to carry chlorine tablets and mix it with water before
drinking. The best way to avoid water borne desiases is to boli water for
five minutes before drinking. Filtering water removes the larger
impurities but it can not remove the virues, bacteria and amobea which are
dissloved. They can be fully removed but their intensity gets minimum
after water is bolied.
Hepatitis and gastro-enteritis are the main water borne diseases. But
coli, Salmonella, cholera and typhoid are also caused by drinking unsafe
water. These diseases are fatal if not treated in time and properly. If
these trouble shooters are treated in early stages then they can be easily
be controlled but if left uncared then they become major problem and can
spoil the whole journey.
Drinking fountain breverages is also hazardous as the nozzles are exposed
to flies and dust. Again the water used in preparing them is often not
clean. Never use ice from the market in your drinks. you never know what
water has been used in preparing the ice. Beer is ofcourse the safest
drink. Favourite brands are Kingfisher, pinkPelican, Danzburg and
Thunderboolt. Don't drink the ones that have 8% alchohol in them.
If nothing is available drink hot tea or coffee. It's a relatively germ
free bevarage.
Food and Precautions to be taken:
Another major cause for bad health condition during travelling is
contaminated food. Nomatter how hard you try it is very difficult to avoid
cantaminated food while travelling. There are some precautions one should
take while eating in journey. Never eat cut fruits or food which is kept
in open. Even while eating fruits make sure that it is properly washed.
Never take food from vendors and road side shops. Eat only packed food or
from good resturants.
Always take well cooked and warm food especially if you are having non
vegetarian stuff. Insure that your hands are properly cleaned with soap
before eating. Consider not using toilet paper, and washing yourself the
way the locals do. Fill the water pitcher with your right hand, only. Pour
with your right hand and use your left to scrub a little. It is much
cleaner than toilet paper. You kind of get a bath every time you use the
toilet, and no irritation from the toilet paper.
A lot of people claim to know exactly which meal made them sick. They are
fooling themselves; it may have sent them over the edge, but the illness
is a cumulative result of many factors. Someone else will eat the same
food and not feel a thing.
Dealing with Diarrhea (dehydration):
Diarrhea is a bacterial disease which is mainly caused due to
contaminated water. Diarrhea is fatal if not traeted in time. Diarrhea
leads to acute dehydration and loss of body fluid. Sometimes high
temperatures and humid climate also lead to dehydration. This is very
common among foreigner particulary those comming from cold countries. Loss
of body fluids leads to cramps and unconciousness which subsequently
impairs proper functioning of the body.
Treating dehydration is very simple. One can prepare a salt sugar
solution by himself (It is simply a mixture of sugar, potassium salt, and
table salt. If you can't find it, sugar and plain table salt does almost
as well) or get some ORS packets from the health centers. These packets
are free of cost. In case of dehyderation give the patient the sugar salt
solution at regualr intervals and if condition does not improve then take
him to doctor. In case of diarrhea one has to take some prescribed
antibiotics along with sugar salt solution. It is recommended to carry
anti dehydration medicines while travelling to any place.
It is still possible to get amoebic dysentary in India, so recognize the
symptoms. For those unfamiliar with this yucky affliction, it's different
from plain old diarrhoea; usually, there is blood involved and no fever
(if fever is present, it's bacillic dysentary and will either go away by
itself or can be treated with antibiotics). If left untreated, it can get
very nasty. As for treatment ask for metradiazenole (sic?), often known as
Flagyl or Flagyl-forte. You don't need a prescription for just about
anything in most of Asia. Get ten days worth (40 tablets) and eat them
after eating because they're very hard on the stomach. Drink NO alcohol,
or you'll throw up. If your urine turns brown, don't worry. That's
apparently a side-effect of the drug. It is always good to be on the safe
side.
Sun Burns:
Being a tropical country sunburns is very common in India. Whether it is
summers or winters if proper care is not taken you may land up having
rashes and burnt skin all over. It is better to apply sun screen lotion
before going out. Though the concept of sunscreen lotion is not very
popular, one can find them in big cities. But in smaller towns they might
not be availble so it is better if carry them with you. Remmember tanning
on beaches and getting skin burnt are two different things.
Women Stuff:
In the big cities sanitary napkins and pads are popular but in smaller
places even the concept might be absent. Make sure that you have adequate
stock for those days. Also, in India tampoons are not very popular so get
them well in advance because you might land up in messy situations at
times. Carry your stress releving pills too.
Travelling may bring sickness of various kinds but make sure to minimise
them. Seasicknes or throwing up can not be helped but if you feel better
by taking some medicine or other make sure that you carry them along.
Because it helps to (a) stay generally healthy and not too
exhausted---this is extremely important but not generally realized; and
(b) try to reduce your germ intake whenever reasonably possible, but never
worry about totally eliminating it since it's impossible.
