Safety + Insurance
Protecting Yourself From Disease In Foreign Countries
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With the economy suffering and jobs not readily available when students finish school, many are taking the opportunity to travel the world. While it’s a great idea to travel before settling down with a full-time job and responsibilities, it is important to remember that foreign countries, as exotic and beautiful as they are, pose an entire collage of health risks that we may not even consider. If you are planning a trip to an exotic location, be sure that you do the following things in order to protect yourself from the most common viruses and other preventable, but potentially deadly diseases that you can pick up while travelling.
Educate Yourself
Doing a little bit of research on the country you are planning to visit is a great way to find out about common infectious diseases from that region. It really is as simple as typing the name of the country into a search engine and reading up on it. You will find that being a tourist puts you at risk for contracting certain diseases simply because you haven’t been exposed to them before. You will also learn which immunizations you will need to get before you leave. Speak to your doctor in advance about your travel plans and he or she will tell you when you need to be immunized, as some are time sensitive. In addition, it is not a bad idea to consider travel insurance. People sometimes decide to skip out on it to cut down the cost of their trip, however, depending on the location, you might want to spend the extra money just to be safe.
Check For Travel Advisories
On their website, the Public Health Agency of Canada posts any travel advisories for certain countries based on disease outbreaks alone. You can find this information under the ‘Health and Safety’ heading where it says ‘Travel Health.’ In this section the Agency rates the health risk on a three-point scale. Level one is a travel advisory, level two is a travel warning and level three is a travel restriction. All risks are updated as information becomes available.
As Canadians, we are lucky that this information is available to us and we need to take advantage of it. Before booking a trip to a foreign country it is crucial that you do your homework to ensure that the country you are visiting is safe and that you yourself are prepared to visit.
Most Common Diseases
As a general guideline, there are some diseases that are very common and have vaccinations. For many of these, Canadians are already vaccinated as a rule. When visiting a tropical location, it is a good idea to make sure that you are vaccinated against hepatitis A and B. Hepatitis A can be caught from eating or drinking contaminated foods and hepatitis B can be transmitted through sexual contact or having some type of contact with the blood or other bodily fluids of an infected person. There is one vaccine that guards against both of these diseases.
Before flying on an airplane, no matter where you are going, having had the flu shot will offer some protection against the recycled air you are forced to breathe in. The flu shot is only offered at the beginning of the flu season (late October to late November), unless you are lucky and your doctor’s office happens to have some left over. The flu shot protects you against anticipated strains of the influenza virus.
Typhoid fever is a disease that typically affects new Canadians travelling back to their homeland where water systems are under-developed. Being immunized only protects you for about three to four years and does not offer complete coverage.
Yellow fever carries a high mortality rate and, as such, those travelling internationally are required to be immunized for yellow fever by government officials. The immunization offers protection for approximately 10 years.
Protect Yourself
The only way to know what dangers await you in the guise of diseases is by staying current with the help of the available resources and tools. Travelling is fun and exciting, but it should also be safe. There is no way to undo the damage of a disease like hepatitis B or yellow fever. Becoming ill simply because you did not know any better is senseless. Be in charge of your own autonomy and travel smart.
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