Rebecca Brayton: All inclusive packages have many travelers heading south, but these resorts may be giving vacationers more than they bargained for. Hi I’m Rebecca Brayton and welcome to watchmojo.com and today, we will be learning how to stay healthy while on vacation.
What are some infectious diseases that people can get while on vacation?
Dominique Tessier: Hepatitis A is the number one infectious disease that you can catch while on vacation. It’s the number one vaccine-preventable disease for travelers.
Typhoid fever and traveler’s diarrhea are certainly at the top of the list of the other risks that you can catch.
Rebecca Brayton: What are the high risk destinations?
Dominique Tessier: Travelers do come in some of these nations including Mexico, the Caribbean, and of course developing countries are at very high risk for those diseases.
Rebecca Brayton: What should people do before they leave to ensure that they don’t get sick while on vacation?
Dominique Tessier: Vaccination should be a priority for anyone going to some destination and of course, developing countries.
Vaccination against Hepatitis A is a must for anyone and considering vaccination against traveler’s diarrhea, against typhoid fever, and of course updating your vaccine against tetanus for example because you may be injured on the beach are the priorities.
Rebecca Brayton: Once you’ve got the vaccines that you need, what else should you take into consideration before leaving?
Dominique Tessier: You need to protect yourself from mosquito bites, even if malaria is not present in all the zone destinations. You still need to check. This is going on for Dominican Republic and many Central America destinations, and Dengue fever is now in almost all or some destinations.
Dengue fever is also called Breakbone fever. It gives you a very good idea of the kind of symptoms that you get when you catch it. There’s no vaccine unfortunately and there’s no treatment.
Rebecca Brayton: What should we do if we do get infected?
Dominique Tessier: First thing is you should use the antibiotics that you brought with you. So for that, you need to see a doctor before you travel. If you a have a very high fever, you should think about malaria, especially if you are a carrier, and then this is an emergency.
Malaria can kill a very healthy individual in just three days. If you’re back home again, you need to go to an emergency room normally in a hospital because most clinic will not have the result fast enough, and you need to mention to your doctor that you’ve been to a tropical destination because they won’t think about the common diseases like Hepatitis A and malaria that you could’ve brought back with you.
You also need to know that hepatitis A for example can be transmitted to your loved ones because the incubation period is so long. Many people would get it a month and a half, two months after their trip and many other people and their family might be infected before they recognize that this is a disease that could be prevented by vaccines.
Rebecca Brayton: Thank you very much.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services