Summer is the holiday season, but at the same time it is also the season of dangerous diseases that people, often unknowingly, bring with them from abroad. But I really want my vacation to be without “adventures”! How to recognize common diseases among tourists and in which countries they occur most often, read below.
Yellow fever and intestinal disorders
Intestinal disorders are a frequent companion of vacationers, and they can be cured quite easily. But yellow fever, which is most often found in South America, is much more dangerous — the mortality rate from this virus is about 20%.
Both humans and mosquitoes carry fever, so even if you avoid communicating with potential patients and visiting busy places, you cannot be 100% sure of your safety. The best solution in this case would be vaccination before the trip.
Hepatitis A and dysentery
The fastest way to catch dysentery is to eat unwashed market fruits and vegetables, as tourists often do in order to save money. Usually, simple activated charcoal and pancreatin help to combat the unpleasant signs of poisoning. But hepatitis A is already more difficult…
There is no specific way to treat it. At the same time, hepatitis symptoms may appear within 40 weeks after the onset of the disease. The virus is transmitted by fecal-oral route, most often in places where sanitary conditions are not observed. On vacation, an ordinary swimming pool can become a haven for the virus if the water in it is not changed often enough.
Typhoid fever and rabies
You can catch typhus in a regular market in Egypt — in extreme heat conditions, even sweets with a long shelf life deteriorate in a few hours. It’s easy to guess what happens to the rest of the food…
The risk of contracting rabies is highest in Tunisia. Here they can be infected from bats, which sometimes like to bite the ubiquitous tourists.
Schistosomiasis and amoebic encephalitis
Schistosomiasis and amoebic encephalitis are quite rare and dangerous diseases caused by parasites. As a rule, they are found in India. It is no secret that in some regions of this country they have not even heard of such a concept as “sanitary standards”.
Therefore, after eating in India, even fresh and cleanly washed vegetables, you risk getting amoebic encephalitis. And by swimming in a local pond, you increase your chances of catching schistosomiasis.
Zika virus, malaria, dengue fever
If you are ever planning a trip to Africa, Mexico or Asia, you should be wary of the bites of seemingly ordinary mosquitoes, which can pose a deadly threat here.
Zika virus, dengue fever, malaria — all these dangerous diseases are carried by mosquitoes. The greatest threat is observed in the territory of the States of Central Africa, for example, in Kenya.
Dangerous parasites
It is generally believed that worms can really be picked up only with food. In fact, these dangerous parasites can enter your body even when you walk barefoot or lie on the sand. Especially if it’s a beach somewhere in Cuba or Cyprus.
Camel flu and leptospirosis
Leptospirosis and camel flu, which was previously called a deadly virus that poses a huge threat to humanity, are usually found in The United Arab Emirates. The first disease is carried by rodents, and you can pick it up without washing your hands before eating. The second, as you may have guessed, occurs when riding camels and is transmitted by airborne droplets.
Camel flu, or as it is also called MERS, belongs to the group of coronaviruses and causes flu-like diseases in humans. The main danger of MERS is that there is still no vaccine in the world that can protect against it, and the mortality rate from the disease is about 50%.
Sexually transmitted diseases
Sexually transmitted diseases are not geographically separated — they can be picked up anywhere if you do not follow the rules of safe sex. But still, venereal diseases are most often given as a “souvenir” to travelers from exotic Asian countries, for example, Thailand.
Do you take care of your health? What precautions do you take during your vacation?
English 
Russian 
German 
Polish