Indonesian Minister: Tourists should wear masks

by Stephen Greenwood on

Indonesian Health Minister, Siti Fadilah Supari has stated that the country will ask all people arriving from swine-flu affected countries to wear face masks for at least three days after arrival.

“Visitors from infected countries should wear masks. It’s a precautionary measure we’re taking to avoid human-to-human transmission of the virus,” Supari told AFP. “We’ll give them the masks when they arrive at the airports and tell them to wear them for three days.”

So far 8 cases of the A(H1N1) Influenza virus have been confirmed, including three Australians and a Briton living in Australia.

“There’ll be no penalty if people don’t wear them. You can’t expect people to wear masks when they’re swimming,” Supari said, adding the masks would be handed out to visitors as soon as possible. Supari made the shock announcement after a ministerial meeting to discuss swine flu.

It remains to be seen whether the Indonesian Health Ministry can get people to put the masks on correctly.

Tips for flying healthy and staying that way

by Jamie Rhein on

First of all, I don’t do any of the things you are supposed to do to stay healthy when flying. I tend to turn into a hamster the night before a flight which means I’m busy into the wee hours of the morning nesting and packing, packing and nesting. It helps me relax.

What I do do that is offered as a staying healthy tip while flying is drink plenty of water. Jane Brody, in her article in the New York Times, also suggests the following:

  • Take 1,000 milligrams of vitamin C and echinacea right before flying. Brody swears by this. Why not? It couldn’t hurt.
  • Prepare for the trip well in advance and get plenty of rest to lessen stress. Like I said, I don’t do this, but it sounds sensible.
  • Don’t drink alchol and limit caffiene intake to keep membranes designed to protect you moist.
  • Wash hands often and keep them away from your mouth and nose. Also sound advice. I do this most of the time.
  • Book an aisle seat in order to be able to walk around easily and avoid blood clots.
  • Wear compression stockings when on long flights also prevents blood clots.

Brody developed her methods after she caught bronchitis along with several of her fellow travelers. She was with a group, so was able to track who became ill.

In the article she also highlights why knowing how to stay healthy is particularly important. Flights are becoming longer in some cases which ups the risks. Also, passengers are becoming older. Because older people have more health risks, they need to be more aware of precautions to take.

For example, people who have heart or respiratory problems need to know if they may need supplemental oxygen while flying. People who have cancer, are overweight or who have had surgery also need to check with their doctors to find out their fitness to fly.

Although I haven’t become sick from a flight that I know of, Brody’s article is a good reminder that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Still, if it’s an international flight, I most definitely will keep drinking the wine–just one glass–maybe two. If it’s free, it’s mine. I’ll also drink coffee, but not as much as normal. I love coffee, even if it’s not all that good and in a Styrofoam cup with white powder with scary ingredients instead of Half and Half that I normally use.

Don’t let illness wreck travel: Be prepared

by Jamie Rhein on

If you read Gadling’s travel series Catching the Travel Bug about being sick on the road, you found stories that attest to the fact that even seasoned travelers get sick from time to time. Travel to a new place and there are germs that your body is just not used to. But, if you’re prepared, whatever bug you catch won’t stick around to totally ruin a vacation or linger with continued health problems once you return.

Before you embark on a trip, make sure you’re immunizations are up to par. According to the World Health Organization, only 34% of the people who travel to places with hepatitis A get immunized against it. Dumb. When heading to places with malaria, only 8% take malaria prevention pills. Double dumb. The result of this neglect is that 30,000 travelers get malaria every year. Gad!

Considering that even a cold can put a damper on a vacation, malaria would do a real number. Typhoid wouldn’t be too swell either, another disease that’s preventable with a shot. In the Columbus Dispatch article where I read about this laxness towards immunization, one doctor told about a family who refused to get immunized when heading to a country in Africa known to be a high risk area. The teenage boy came home with typhoid as a result. He ate street food, and worse, drank local water.

In general, I think street food is not a problem if it’s being served cooked, it’s hot–meaning coming right off a grill, and you can see it being prepared, but local water? Nope.

Although getting immunized can add to the sticker price of a trip, it’s money well spent. Both malaria pills and immunizations have a certain time frame to be administered in order for them to be effective. If you’re planning on going to a country that is high risk where these treatments are recommended, don’t wait until it’s too late.

By the way, if you do get those shots, hang onto the record of when you got them. Some are good for several years so you can make the sticker price of shots go down by taking another trip to one of these locations before a shot expires.

Here is a link to a resource for what health details need to be taken care of before you travel to most African countries. And, here’s a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that has other travel health information.

Adventure travel medical kits

by Brenda Yun on

I can think of three times I’ve wished I’d packed more immodium, hydration salts, or an emergency blanket with me but I didn’t. The first was when I ate a bad mango in India and spent two days either on the toilet or in bed. The second was when my friend came down with a stomach bug in rural Thailand and spent the night in the village doctor’s guest room after a shot in the butt and hooked up to an IV (see photo). The third was on my U.S. road trip, where I bundled my pug up in two sweaters under my thin blanket and slept through a cold night in Flagstaff, Arizona; we woke up to find the water frozen in our bottles.
There’s a reason travel kits and accessories exist: for our comfort and survival. That’s why I felt honored to receive a care package from Simon Ashdown at Adventure Medical Kits (a subsidy of Tender Corporation). Inside the package was an assortment of great travel and medical kits. For a travel savvy wanderer like myself, these kits satisfy my travel needs perfectly. The new adventure travel kit series satisfy four different kinds of travel needs:

  • World Travel ($75), for the serious trekker and adventurer (suitable for 1-4 people on a multi-day trip)
  • Smart Travel ($40), for 1-2 adventurers on a week-long exploration abroad
  • Suture Syringe Medic ($22), for real emergencies in places where medical care may be spotty or nonexistent
  • Travel Medic ($10), for everyday travel to places where it’s easy to access more serious medical care; contains materials for stomach, pain, cuts, and hygiene issues

Both the World and Smart Travel kits include a ‘Point and See’ communication card, which can be an important tool to break the language barrier. The Suture Syringe and Travel Medic kits are certified 100% carbon neutral and are made of recycled craft paper laminated onto woven polypropylene. Since I’m a light packer, I think the Travel Medic will suit my needs just fine, but if ever I travel with family, I would opt for the Smart Travel kit.

In addition to these great kits, there are some neat accessories available that are great for travelers too, such as the cool “Heatsheets” sleeping bag, which comes with a cool orange stuff sack. The “no deet” insect repellent wipes and baking soda itch relief would come in handy as well.

Those interested in taking advantage of these cool products should visit the Adventure Medical Kits website. Or feel free to contact Simon directly at sashdown [at] tendercorp [dot] com.

Don’t get burned on your next trip

by Erik McLaughlin on

You are finally there…the perfect beach, the perfect companion and the perfect drink in your hand. This is what you’ve been working and waiting for. You’ve left the mobile phone off and are dedicated to not letting anything ruin your trip. Besides the calls from work though, sunburn can ruin a holiday pretty quick.

Basics: Your Skin and the Sun’s Rays

You may remember from hazy days in high school biology that the skin has two main layers: epidermis (thin, outer layer) and the dermis (thicker, inner layer). The skin has many functions and one of them is protection from the sun. The amount of melanin in the skin can effect the skin’s ability to protect against sunburn and damage from ultraviolet light, as most light skinned people can tell you. Being very light skinned, I get a “light pink” just going outside to get my mail.

This sun’s ultraviolet light has three main types, UVA, UVB and UVC. People are exposed to much, much more UVA light than UVB, but it is actually UVB that is responsible for most sunlight induced erythema (sunburns). The UVC light is largely absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere. An interesting article that discusses the interplay of UVA and UVB and UVA’s possible role in skin damage can be found here

Prevention

The best way to avoid getting a sunburn is to protect yourself and there are several ways to do this. Sunscreens, clothing, sunglasses and avoidance of peak sun hours (10 am to 3 pm) are all common tools in the war on sunburn. Glasses, contact lenses and sunglasses protect the eye from most UVB rays. For those of you that are “into shades” you can read a bit more about things like light transmission and distortion.

Sun protection clothing is a very useful item and quality counts — specifically the tightness of the weave in the garment. Material, proper, does not seem to be as important as this “weave tightness”, as evidenced by Lycra. When stretched, Lycra blocks only 2% of UVR compared to 100% when lax. The term to know is UPF (ultraviolet protection factor) and is similar to SPF for sunscreen. This is the amount of UV rays that are able to pass through the clothing. A UPF rating of 50 means only 1/50 of the sun’s UV rays pass through, offering substantial protection because only 2% of the suns rays get to your skin.

Sun Protection Factors (SPF)

The famous SPF rating of sunscreens is a commonly misunderstood factor that compares protection times of different strengths of sunscreen. This number is actually a ratio that uses the amount of time it takes to get a sunburn in a person wearing sunscreen versus one without protection.

For example, a person gets a sunburn in 10 minutes of sun exposure, without sunscreen. Wearing SPF 2 will protect their skin from sunburn for 20 minutes, or double their “unprotected” time it takes to burn. Wearing SPF 15 will give 150 minutes of protection or about 2 1/2 hours and SPF 50 offers 500 minutes of protection, or 8.3 hours. SPF merely gives an amount of time one is supposed to be protected from a sunburn. Interestingly, higher SPF values are associated with protection from UVB absorption. SPF 2 only blocks about 50% of UVB, while SPF 15 blocks 93% of UVB and SPF 50 blocks 98% of UVB rays.

Sunscreen

The method by which the sunscreen is applied is very important. Creams and lotions generally spread well and allow good skin penetration. Gels tend to wash or sweat off easily, and some contain alcohol which can sting the skin. Sticks make it hard to cover a large area of skin. Oils traditionally spread thin and some can cause acne. Ointments/waxes are generally left to extreme environments and help resist skin chap and frostbite. Aerosolized and sprays make an even coating difficult, allowing for unprotected patches.

The biggest problem with sunscreen is that it is not properly used. This means adequate application in the beginning and re-application — frequently. Apply the sunscreen, liberally, to all exposed skin areas. Remember to get the neck, ears and backs of hands, too! Re-apply after swimming or water contact. Sunscreen goes on the skin first, then bug spray goes on top. Remember that use of DEET and sunscreen together decreases the sunscreen’s protection by 34%. Try not to let the sunscreen run into your eyes, as this will cause some irritation, trust me.

Sunscreens are a major cause of skin irritation, also. Oxybenzone is a common link in these products and is commonly know as PABA (p-aminobenzoic acid). Up to 4% of the population are adversely affected by this compound. If you have a sensitivity to PABA, make sure to select a PABA-free lotion.

Sunburn Treatment

OK, it happens. Forgot the sunscreen, didn’t re-apply, didn’t use enough the first time, whatever. You now have a burn and it hurts. For immediate relief, cool water soaks or compresses help with pain. Topical anesthetics do work and the preferred ones include menthol or camphor. Aspirin and ibuprofen are very good at reducing pain and swelling/inflammation. Sun avoidance for 48 hours may also help speed healing time. Lastly, ensure adequate hydration. My personal “sunburn remedy” is a lot of water.

More severe sunburns can be associated with blistering of the skin, fevers/chills, and even vomiting. If your skin blisters, try not to beak them. If they do break, wash the area with soap and water and consider applying a thin layer of antibiotic cream.

Hopefully, most everybody associates sun exposure and burns with skin damage and even cancers, later in life. Even if this is not as catchy as the “Everybody’s Free to Wear Sunscreen” essay, hopefully this will help you remember to wear your sunscreen and avoid a few days of discomfort on your “perfect beach holiday”.

For more information check out:

CDC Travel Health: Sunburn