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Food and Water Risks to Know in Avoiding Disease

When traveling to other countries, it is contaminated water and food that will likely make you sick and cause disease rather than the potential mosquito and insect bites. This is especially true if you do not plan to venture to the more rural areas of the country. You cannot be blasé about what you drink and order off of the menu. You will have to weight the pros and cons of possible contamination with every drink and food choice you make.

Typical diseases you could pick up through traveling are E. coli bacterial infections, bacillary or amebic dysentery, hepatitis A, shigellosis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis and any of the noroviruses. Of course, there are also chances of picking up a rotavirus infection as well as a number of different protozoan and worm parasites, salmonella infections and cholera.

Many of these infectious diseases start with the contamination of food and water but they can also be transmitted via the fecal-oral way. As these bacteria, viruses and parasites are shed in people's stools, if someone doesn't wash their hands and you touch the same surfaces they do, you could contract a disease. The same can be said if the waste management conditions are not optimal and sewage leaks into the water supply.

Water is a harbor for all sorts of contamination and can not only spread disease from ingestion of it but also from recreational activities as well. Swimming in contaminated pond, lake, ocean and river waters will bring illness, especially if the water is accidentally swallowed, it touches mucosal membranes like the nose, eyes and throat or even through skin abrasions and other skin trauma.

Food selections are important when traveling abroad. Always assume that any raw foods could be contaminated from raw vegetables in a salad to fruits to unpasteurized dairy products. Only trust fruits that you have washed and peeled on your own. Seek out dairy products labeled pasteurized. Do not eat meat or shellfish that has been uncooked. Shellfish and other seafood could have been harvested from contaminated waters and only cooking will kill the germs that cause disease.

Meat should be cooked thoroughly to kill any possible tapeworms, parasites and other germs that could be contaminating it. In addition, do not eat cooked food that has been sitting a while, even if it is still warm. This is the perfect breeding ground for bacteria as well as contamination from food servers and dirty utensils. Another piece of advice is to never purchase food from a street vendor as you are not certain if it was prepared in sanitary conditions or handled properly.

In regards to the consumption of water, only trust bottled water in sealed bottles. When you purchase them in other countries, always check the seal as some "enterprising" souls may wash used water bottles and refill them with the local water supply. Do not order drinks with ice in them as you are not guaranteed the ice was made with clean drinking water.

When bottled water is not available, you should always boil your water for 1 to 3 minutes and allow coming to room temperature. Iodine treatments that come in pill or crystallized form will kill some bacteria in the water that cause disease but it does not always kill viruses and parasites. The same thing applies to portable water filters. Sealed, bottled water or boiling is the only two options for safe drinking water.