One of the most fulfilling ways to learn about a country is through its food.
Cuisine often represents the core of a nation. Locals tend to show extra with pride in national dishes, creating unique treats with their own special touches.
The cuisine may even inform your entire decision to travel. A love for Thai or Italian cook has driven many travelers to visit those respective countries.
In serious situations, or left untreated, yellow fever can become a nightmare disease. Besides the notable jaundice that it cause, the disease can quickly cause organ problems and bleeding throughout the body. Unsurprisingly, all these symptoms can lead to death.
To make things worse, the mosquito-borne illness is hard to diagnose. It’s often confused with other diseases and can go without confirmation until it’s too late. Once a person is bitten and has the virus in their system, they are not contagious to other people, but since yellow fever mimics other illnesses, it’s often overlooked.
So, when an there’s risk of a yellow fever outbreak, local governments must take it seriously. This happened in 2017, when Brazil dealt with a yellow fever outbreak that spread throughout it’s biggest cities.
Puerto Rico, Aruba, Jamaica, the Bahamas. These are often the first islands to be considered when planning a Caribbean vacation.
All are easily accessible, provide plenty of relaxation, and long stretches of beaches perfect for a getaway. But, did you know there are 7,000 individual islands in the Caribbean, with 28 island nations having developed popular tourism?
Instead of heading straight for the go-to destinations in the ocean, take a closer look at the smaller islands. You’ll notice that they may get less attention, but are still radiant and available to visit.
Cape Town is more than a top-tier tourism destination. It is South Africa’s largest city and home to over 3.4 million people.
But, those millions of residents and visitors have gone without rain for the last three years. Due to the drought and other plumbing issues throughout the city, South Africa’s gem will soon be out of water.
This can pose quite a blow to a city that relies heavily on tourism.
Located in Wiltshire, United Kingdom, Stonehenge remains both a marvel and a mystery. The site is now part of the World Heritage property as a symbol of prehistoric architecture.
Archaeologists believe that the mounds and monuments at Stonehenge date back to around 3700 – 1600 BC and represent the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Other archaeologists speculate that the massive structures date back even further. The oldest estimates put Stonehenge around 6,300 years ago to the last Ice Age.
In recent years, archaeologists discovered human and animal remains that show parts of Stonehenge were burial sites. This is confirmed because the blue stone pillars are burial markers.
From coughing to sneezing, body aches to rising temperatures, the flu is just consistent problem year after year. For months, the whole world has to contend with the virus as flu season spreads throughout the globe.
This year is no different and the 2017-2018 season is actually worse than usual. With flu season in full swing, the CDC is taking a hard look at this year’s concerning spread.
If it seems like there are extra reports about the flu and and high amounts of cases, you’d be right. With every week, there’s more reports of cases and hospitalizations of this year’s virus, with numbers close to alarming levels.
When people picture rabies, an image of a frothing, vicious animal often comes to mind.
This misconception means countless visitors to China are at more risk than they know when going to pet an innocent stray on the street. As the World Health Organization notes, this is most true for dogs. The animals are responsible for 99 percent of rabies transmission to humans in China.
The country has a known problem with homeless canines. China has 80 million registered dogs and only 10-20 percent of them are vaccinated against the rabies virus. The WHO reports that rabies kills one person every 10 minutes in developing countries (including China), showing a high risk for unprotected tourists.
Though deserts can be some of the most daunting places for travel, people across the globe are still flocking to the arid regions.
What’s in store for travelers willing to brave the hot, dry weather? A combination of time spent hiking, camping, rock climbing and natural photography.
Over the years, desert tourism has fast become a popular travel option for those seeking a change of pace. As it turns out, the desert is a great place to thaw out and enjoy the sun during the cold winter months. The Middle East offers some of the best places for desert travel and the most popular destinations include, the Sahara Desert, the White Desert, and the Great Pyramid at Giza.
Staying true to its name, river blindness can lead to some permanent issues with your eyes.
Also known as onchocerciasis, river blindness is an eye and skin disease that is spread by blackflies. Also accurate in the name, these tiny flies live near fast-running streams and rivers in inter-tropical zones.
According to the World Health Organization, it is the world’s second leading infectious cause of blindness. Africa poses the greatest risk, with over 90 percent of cases found on the continent. Other areas like Yemen and some Latin American countries also pose a risk.
While cholera outbreaks are still occurring today, these epidemics are nothing new. Most of the world’s cholera epidemics can actually be traced back to a single place: India’s Ganges delta.
Cholera is an intestinal infection spread through contaminated food and water. Symptoms of cholera usually include diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps. The disease doesn’t always show those signs though. Sometimes cholera is present with no symptoms to speak of. If an individual does not seek treatment, the symptoms can quickly become severe and victims can die within hours.
Many of the world’s worst cholera outbreaks can be traced back to the Ganges delta. Due to the fact that cholera spreads through contaminated food and water, the Ganges is a perfect breeding ground for the disease. The Ganges delta provides a source of water for millions of people living in India, all of which could be using contaminated water to bathe or cook.
