If you’ve ever visited a country with questionable tap water, you’re likely familiar with all the tips to avoid getting sick.
Don’t drink from the tap, avoid ice, and only stick to bottled water.
But, how can you be sure the bottled water is safe? How does bottled water keep travelers safe from cholera, typhoid and hepatitis A in foreign countries?
Two young women were recently found dead while vacationing in Cambodia.
Natalie Seymour, 22, and Abbey Amisola, 27, were staying in a local hostel in the city of Kampot.
Seymour mentioned to her mother that both she and Amisola were not feeling well. She described symptoms of dizziness, headaches and diarrhea to her mother during one of their daily texts. Seymour’s mother told The Daily Mail that her daughter was good at keeping her up to date with their plans.
With so many options in the world today, thanks to ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft, transportation while traveling can be much easier than it used to be.
There is no longer a need to rely on the word of locals or maps. An app or navigation system can take care of many transportation worries.
But, with all these options it can also be hard to tell which is the best for you. The answer to that question can largely depend upon where you’re traveling; for example, if you’re in a rural setting, public transportation may not be an option at all. This can narrow down your choices, but it still remains a tricky choice for travelers when they are planning trips abroad.
Everyone is familiar with the immunity created for many illnesses. Viruses like smallpox and chickenpox build an immunity with antibodies after a first infection.
But what about diseases that actually come back worse the second time?
Research on dengue fever, published in 2017, has people considering the idea with more evidence than before.
The Marburg virus is relatively new on the scene.
It was discovered in 1967 and named after one of the leading cities where the illness broke out, Marburg, Germany. There was a simultaneous epidemic in Frankfurt, Germany, as well as in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, which is modern-day Serbia.
In its early years, the virus was commonly called the Marburg Hemorrhagic Fever. While Marburg may be new to many, the world is already familiar with its cousin virus, Ebola.
Infecting hundreds of millions across the globe, HPV is the world’s most common sexually transmitted disease. In the United States alone, human papillomavirus infects 14 million new people every year.
While the numbers are alarming, HPV is usually symptomless. It’s the long-term effects of this disease that can create life-threatening issues.
Years of untreated HPV can change the cells in a woman’s cervix, leading to cervical cancer. While cervical cancer is still a rare development from HPV, 70 percent of the cancer cases can be traced to the disease.
The bubonic plague, also known as the “Black Death,” is one of the most dangerous diseases known to man.
It struck Europe in the mid-fourteenth century and overran the continent for over 300 years. Many of the European nations heard that Asia and the far East had substantial outbreaks of “Black Death.” Europe had established amicable trade relations with many of these Asian nations.
Historians believe that the plague was brought to Messina, Italy via trade ships.
Autumn has been a difficult season for San Diego, thanks to a large hepatitis A outbreak.
The outbreak was officially declared a local public health emergency by the San Diego Public Health Officer on September 1, 2017. The outbreak progressed and spread to nearby areas like Los Angeles and Santa Cruz. This prompted California Governor Jerry Brown to officially declare a state of emergency on October 13.
Hepatitis A is a virus spread through contaminated food and water. This usually occurs when the food or water is polluted with the fecal matter of someone who’s infected.
From the first cholera vaccine created in 1885 to Vaxchora (approved by the FDA in 2016), the world has a much better understanding of the disease and its epidemics. That’s why knowing how vaccination prevention works is such an important tool.
Cholera is a bacterial disease the can be transmitted in water or food contaminated with Vibrio cholerae bacteria.
Symptoms from the disease can range from mild to fatal. Cholera typically causes symptoms like diarrhea and vomiting. Both of which can lead to death due to dehydration if left untreated.
Origins of the disease trace back to approximately 500 B.C. Since then, there have been two “first” genuine discoveries of cholera’s bacteria, once in the 1850s and once in the 1880s.
From hurricanes to earthquakes and floods, no country is invincible against Mother Nature.
Recent natural disasters show that even developed regions can struggle with the long-term effects. Events like Hurricane Katrina in the United States and more recently, the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and tsunami created a myriad of problems for the public.
A lasting image for these storms will often be floods or decaying buildings. Many people will miss another dangerous problem: disease.
