Avoid Illness While Traveling – Self-Defense Against Germs

If you want to have a great trip, regardless if it is for business or pleasure, you must avoid illness while traveling. Travel presents a germ minefield, and the odds are you will become sick before you are robbed or mugged. In my overall safety plan, I not only want to avoid dangers while traveling, but I want to avoid illness while traveling too. Having a trip spoiled because of an illness can be just as bad as getting a wallet stolen or losing your luggage. Depending on the illness, it can be even worse.

We have all heard about washing our hands, and that is a great place to start. Here are a few more tips to help keep you healthy while traveling.

Here’s a little video I made on the topic a while back:

Make sure you stay healthy while traveling by following these simple tips:

1. As stated above, wash your hands. Regularly wash your hands with soap and warm water for at least fifteen seconds, and avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth with your hands – that is the number one way to carry a harmful virus into your system.

2. Exercise while you are on the road to keep your immune system in top shape. (Remember, the more fit you keep yourself, the better you can fight off germs and illnesses.)

3. Pay attention to what you are touching. Think of the germs you can pick up while shaking other people’s hands, using the TV remote in the hotel room, touching the button at the elevator, and so on. This doesn’t mean don’t touch anything, it is just a reminder that when you do touch these things you are picking up whatever germs others left behind, so avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth afterward.

4. Traveling overseas can expose you to different illnesses such as malaria, dengue hemorrhagic fever, Japanese encephalitis, chikungunya fever, yellow fever, parasites, tick-borne diseases, and typhoid fever. Before traveling, ask your doctor what preventive shots or steps you should take, and check the Centers for Disease Control website (www.cdc.gov) for country-specific travelers’ updates.

This isn’t meant to scare you, or keep you from traveling. I love to travel, and hope you travel and experience all you can. But I do want you aware of these things, and conscious of them so you can avoid unwanted illnesses. Many sicknesses are caused by infection with bacteria or viruses, and you can stop them in their tracks by following these tips from Travis L. Stork, M.D. and the Joint Commission (formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) and the Centers for Disease Control:

Dr. Stork’s Top Tips For Being A Healthy Germophobe:

• Realize that viral infections usually enter your body through your eyes, nose, and mouth. They are often transmitted by other people coughing or sneezing in your direction, or by your own hands picking up germs from infected people or surfaces.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth unless you’ve washed your hands.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people who are coughing or sneezing.
• Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, and throw the tissue in the trash, or cough or sneeze into the crook of your elbow. Do not cough or sneeze onto your bare hands unless you can immediately wash them.
• Wash your hands thoroughly, and often, with soap and warm water for fifteen to twenty seconds. (I use good old-fashioned soap and try to avoid overusing antibacterial soap.) When soap and water are not available, alcohol-based disposable hand wipes or gel sanitizers may be used. I recommend using a sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.
• Make sure doctors, dentists, and other health care providers clean their hands or wear gloves when treating you. They come into contact with lots of viruses and bacteria, so before they treat you, ask if they’ve cleaned their hands. They should wear clean gloves when they do things like take throat cultures, pull teeth, take blood, touch wounds or body fluids, and examine your mouth or private parts. Don’t be afraid to ask them if they should be wearing gloves.
• Keep your immune system strong by getting plenty of physical activity, sleep, fluids, and following a healthy diet, especially when you’re traveling.
• If you’re sick with a flulike illness, the CDC recommends that you stay home for at least twenty-four hours after your fever is gone except to get medical care if needed or for other necessities. (Your fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine.) Keep away from others as much as possible to keep from making others sick.
• When you’re out and about or when you’re traveling, if you’ve just washed your hands, try not to use your bare hands to touch commonly used and little cleaned places. Examples include airplane bathroom door handles, elevator buttons, faucet and toilet handles, and doorknobs in general. You can’t always do this gracefully and it isn’t always easy to pull this off without looking like a contortionist or germo-fanatic, but wouldn’t you rather stay healthy than look smooth? One simple trick: use the paper towel to turn off the faucet and open the bathroom door, and then throw it away.
• Check the Centers for Disease Control website www.cdc.gov for the latest advisories on infectious diseases, flu, and traveler’s health.
• Get immunized – talk to you doctor about getting a seasonal flu vaccine shot, and don’t forget to ask what other adult vaccinations you may need, such as tetanus and whooping cough.

This is the book by Travis Stork I was reading on the trip to Calgary: