Health Tips For Travelers
Avoid Diarrhea, Hepatitis A and B, and Sun Damage While Traveling
Jul 2, 2009
It's vacation season, with everything holidays entail: the sudden urge to shed winter layers, become sun-kissed, bronzed beauties, and relax with colourful foods and cocktails in the world's most exotic locales, clad in itsy-bitsy bikinis and fashionable sunglasses.
As enticing as all this may be, it's important to remember that smart travel involves more than just packing, flying, and relaxing.
Fake Tanning Options
The secret to a healthy golden tan is simple: fake it. Sadly, there is no such thing as truly healthy tanning, and all too often, you will pay dearly for your beautiful golden skin. Don't leave home without adequate sun protection. Be sure to use sunscreen liberally, and consider your options.
Salons such as Toronto's Bellair Tan now offer UV free, spray-on options (providing a golden tan in six seconds!) and Nivea Smooth Legs Summer Touch provides a truly natural-looking "bottle tan" that can be applied in the comfort of home. The gel cream comes in two shades, for light and dark skin tones, is smooth and easy to apply, and will not turn your skin orange. Keep in mind that the tan will deepen over the days following the application – one application is often enough.
Help in Preventing Traveler's Diarrhea
Unfortunately, Montezuma's revenge (a polite way of saying traveler's diarrhea) is an all too common problem for travelers.
Be sure to bring along over-the-counter medications to treat potential indigestion and other tummy troubles, and speak to your doctor about obtaining Dukoral: this oral vaccine protects travellers against diarrhea as wells as cholera – an intestinal infection caused by consuming contaminated food or water.
Ways to Avoid Hepatitis A and B
Unfortunately, no matter how beautiful the setting or luxurious the hotel, so-called drinking water in many of the world's best vacation destinations is actually not fit for human consumption.
Hepatitis A runs rampant in many of the world's most beautiful beaches, hiding in contaminated food, water, and the ice cubes often found in tantalizing tropical cocktails. Hepatitis A can even be present in swimming water. Hepatitis B is a serious liver disease that is commonly spread via blood and bodily fluids, or contaminated tattoo needles, knives, or unsanitary manicure tools.
Speak to your doctor well in advance of your trip about getting TwinRix. This series of vaccination is as close as you can get to complete protection from Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B.
Source:
For more information on travel health visit TwinRix and Dukoral online, or contact the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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