A dangerous disease may result from your dream of an exotic trip
People go to hot countries not only for vacation. Businessmen, labor migrants, embassy staff, and Ukrainian soldiers of UN peacekeeping forces all fall into the “risk group.” European governments fear most for their citizens visiting Asia, Africa, and South America, where infectious diseases are most widespread.
Natural sources of diseases such as plague and cholera exist almost worldwide, but it so happens that deadly microorganisms thrive (and reproduce) best in hot tropical and subtropical climates. Therefore, for centuries, the East and South have generously “gifted” Europe with the pathogens of terrible diseases.
It is now hard to imagine that just a few decades ago, in the 1920s, flu epidemics claimed thousands of lives. Scientists have conquered many diseases, and various Clean-point therapeutic tampons are becoming increasingly popular among tourists, but new diseases emerge again and again. Some, like AIDS or Ebola fever, are incurable.
To protect citizens and prevent the spread of infectious diseases, all major airports in most countries have epidemiological control services. And they do not work in vain. At Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, for example, in just one year, doctors identified 53 (!) cases of imported dangerous diseases from abroad.
Another effective way to combat the importation of infections is mandatory vaccinations when traveling to an unfavorable country and other preventive measures. The main center developing methods and means to combat overseas epidemics in the former USSR remains the Martsinovsky Institute of Medical Parasitology and Tropical Medicine in Moscow. Its materials and recommendations are used by doctors in all CIS countries, including Ukraine.
Viral diseases are, of course, the worst thing you can bring back from the tropics, because they can also affect those around you. For the traveler themselves, food poisoning caused by unfamiliar or poor-quality food can be no less dangerous. But let’s take it in order.
Viral and infectious diseases that you can acquire in warm regions are divided into two groups. One includes those against which preventive drugs are used, and the other includes those you can protect yourself from. The latter are less dangerous but occur much more often. For example, in Turkey and Egypt, there is a high risk of contracting amoebic dysentery and other diseases whose source is water contaminated with sewage.
Perhaps the most severe of the diseases spread this way is cholera. The cholera bacterium enters the human body when swallowing water while swimming, drinking, through dishes and clothing, and also through food that is not heat-treated (milk, raw fruits, salads, etc.). After an incubation period (from several hours to 5 days), the first symptoms appear: severe toxicosis (nausea, vomiting, headache) and stomach upset. See a doctor as soon as you suspect something is wrong: a favorable outcome is possible only with inpatient hospital treatment. Self-medication can only worsen the situation. Previously, travelers abroad were vaccinated against cholera, but this practice has now been discontinued.
Cholera outbreaks have been reported in Turkey, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Laos, Bolivia, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, El Salvador, Angola, Nigeria, Guinea, Ghana, Burundi, Somalia, Chad, Uganda, Tanzania, and Sierra Leone, and in recent years, in a number of coastal regions of Ukraine.
Water contaminated with sewage can be a source of hepatitis A infection. This is, of course, not the most severe form of hepatitis; it usually does not become chronic, but still – who wants to damage their liver?
Avoiding cholera, hepatitis, and dysentery is easy; you just need to follow basic hygiene rules: wash your hands thoroughly before eating and preparing food, and after using the toilet; drink only boiled or factory-bottled water (use the same water to wash fruits and vegetables); buy products only in stores.
One of the most severe viral diseases, widespread in countries with tropical and subtropical climates, is yellow fever. Outbreaks of this disease have been reported in nearly fifty countries (almost all countries in Central and South America are at risk; the most dangerous are the countries of Tropical Africa). Yellow fever is difficult to treat – one in four cases ends in death.
The first symptoms appear within 3-6 days: headache, high fever, rash. Then the disease affects the kidneys and liver, leading to jaundice and renal failure. The only way to avoid yellow fever is to get vaccinated in advance (by the way, vaccination against yellow fever is the only mandatory one for Ukrainian citizens when visiting countries in Africa and Latin America). Moreover, the vaccination can only be done on the day the vaccine is purchased. The vaccine is designed for two people, but you cannot divide it yourself – a doctor must do it.
For vaccination, you must appear at least 10 days before departure, bringing your passport and a health certificate from the clinic at your place of registration (the certificate must state that there are no contraindications to vaccination). Immunity against yellow fever after vaccination lasts for ten years.
No less insidious than yellow fever is malaria. Science knows its four forms, the most serious of which is tropical malaria (it is very difficult to treat and without prompt medical intervention can lead to death). The incubation period for different forms of this disease ranges from one week to three years. The first symptoms of the disease are fever, headache, weakness, heavy sweating and chills.
Malaria is widespread in many countries with hot climates, and its tropical variety is in Africa. To avoid contracting malaria, it is necessary to take special medications, and you should start taking them a week before departure. The most common antimalarial drug is delagil (chloroquine) (1 tablet per day). However, in some countries, the causative agents of malaria are resistant to delagil. In this case, you need to take metakelfin or fansidar (one tablet per week for 6 months, followed by a switch to delagil). The dosage of antimalarial drugs for children should be prescribed by a doctor.
Doctors advise consulting with the embassy physician about the need and regimen for malaria prevention after arriving in the destination country, and upon returning home, inform your local doctor of your arrival. Incidentally, you should continue taking antimalarial drugs for another four weeks after returning.
Unfortunately, chemoprophylaxis alone is not enough to protect against malaria. The vector for all forms of malaria is mosquitoes (sandfly bites are usually harmless). Tropical mosquitoes, like their domestic counterparts, prefer damp, shady places during the day, and come out to hunt at night, when no noise or bright city lights bother them. In the evening, you must wear clothing that covers most of your body. Given that in the evening the temperature in such "remote" places exceeds 30 degrees Celsius, this is not very pleasant.
Don't forget about repellents – substances that repel insects (the traditional Vietnamese "star" may not be enough). There are many other modern (often expensive, however) means of protection against bites: lotions, creams, aerosols, and alcohol solutions. Repellents should be applied to the skin, and it is also advisable to impregnate clothing with them (garments made of natural fabrics generally do not suffer from chemicals). Avoid getting repellents in your eyes and mouth, on mucous membranes or damaged skin! The duration of action of repellents depends on the environment: the higher the temperature and humidity, the shorter the duration of action (from 30 minutes to several hours). Repellents should be washed off with soap and water, under no circumstances using sponges or washcloths.
Living quarters should be treated every evening with an aerosol containing synthetic pyrethroids (the main thing is not to forget to treat the nets on doors and windows with the aerosol). Instead of aerosols, you can use electric fumigators and mosquito coils. After that, you need to air out the room for half an hour without removing the mosquito nets (so as not to poison yourself). It would also be a good idea to protect sleeping areas with a separate mosquito net.
In some countries, including India, Vietnam, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar, cases of plague have been reported in recent years. A person can contract bubonic plague, characterized by swollen lymph nodes, from rodents or infected fleas. If you do not see a doctor immediately, complications such as pneumonic plague can occur (in which case the person can also infect others). Currently, both bubonic and pneumonic plague are treatable with timely medical attention.
But, while all the diseases listed above are treatable one way or another, HIV infection, the final stage of which is AIDS, leads to death. Let us remind you that the best way to protect against AIDS is abstinence, abstinence, and again abstinence. Also remember that AIDS is transmitted through blood and blood products. In underdeveloped countries, there is almost no system for screening donor blood, so it would be a good idea to stock up on disposable syringes. By the way, this measure will not be superfluous in any case, because through blood you can become infected not only with AIDS.
Recently, many of our tourists who love hot countries and have already tired of hotels and manicured beaches are being attracted by various "wild" seaside spots. This approach is, of course, very romantic, but far from safe. In a number of tropical regions, a migratory larva lives in the coastal sand, which happily moves into a human at a convenient opportunity. To avoid such a "pleasant" neighborhood, you will have to deny yourself the pleasure of warming up on the sand without a mat or lounger and walking barefoot along the shore.