"Coughs and sneezes spread diseases. Trap them in your handkerchief!" This slogan from a 1942 British government poster was aimed at reducing absenteeism from serious war work, but it caught on, and encouraged more hygienic habits in the population as a whole. No surprise then, to find it revived to combat the latest threats from various kinds of flu and the norovirus with added instructions about binning tissues, then washing hands thoroughly.
For travellers confined in aircraft cabins, buses, rail carriages and cruise ships, this is particularly good advice. Air-conditioning has many advantages, but one of its problems is that air-borne germs can circulate very quickly. No one wants to be responsible for spreading coughs and sneezes, or any kind of flu, over several continents in the process of one long-haul flight or cruise of a lifetime.
Frequent hand-washing is especially important for all travellers and holidaymakers. While sneeze-related matters are a cause for complaint, and in the case of swine flu possibly even life-threatening, there are no prizes for guessing which one comes top of the groan list. Traveller’s Tum is merely the politest name for a whole range of gastroenteric infections causing diarrhea and/or vomiting that which can last for anything from 12 hours to several months.
Norovirus, Travellers’ Tum, the Aztec Two-Step, Tutankhamun’s Revenge
So familiar is Traveller's Tum in some parts of the world that no serious traveller leaves home without a favourite remedy for when it strikes. Here are some familiar excuses for the inexcusable:
1. "It’s the air conditioning – it stimulates you to eat too much. Outside again, the heat hits and . . ."
Clearly this is nonsense, because everyone in Florida, Australia and Southern California would be permanently sprinting to the washroom.
2. "Foreigners aren’t used to our water."
Well, yes, which is why most travellers drink bottled water whenever possible, yet still find themselves victims.
3. Overdoing the alcohol.
Possibly, but that should result only in a hang-over or a few hours of vomiting.
4. "It’s the bad roads, they shake your stomach about too much" – a personal favourite from African safari park lodges.
So why aren’t motorcyclists, off-roaders and donkey riders permanently afflicted?
Norovirus, Traveller’s Tum and Many Travel Health Problems Are Caused by Bad Hygiene
Enough of the excuses. Medical opinion firmly states that most common gastroenteric complaints are caused by lack of good hygiene. Bad bugs, whether it’s norovirus (aka winter vomiting sickness) from one infected person’s gut are passed to someone else though faecal contamination, and that’s it.
The only ways to contain or prevent this are:
- Washing the hands thoroughly with soap and warm water or a bacterial gel before preparing or eating food, and before and after going to the toilet.
- Educating the general public, and especially kitchen staff, on the importance of clean water and good hygiene practices everywhere that norovirus outbreaks are a problem.
Holiday Health Good Hygiene and Flu-Related or Respiratory Tract Illnesses
Frequent and thorough hand-washing put into place to combat norovirus outbreaks has also been shown to lower the incidence of flu-like illnesses and coughs and sneezes of the common cold and other bronchial infections. Spitting out sputum, blowing the nose with the fingers and sneezing into the air or onto clothing has been a common practice in many countries, and some governments, particularly China, are now aiming to ban these unhygienic habits.
Here’s one traveller's tip not yet on a government poster – keep an unopened can or bottle of Coke handy. If dehydration caused by TT threatens, open it and let it go flat, then drink instead of water. It is sterile and its ingredients are almost as good as rehydration salts sachets.
As with all diseases, prevention is better than cure, and remembering to "catch it, bin it, wash your hands" will certainly help keep holiday bugs from spoiling the fun.
Kate Nivison - Kate Nivison has published 2 novels, over 250 short stories and travel features, visited 74 countries and written about most of them.
