Plenty of people might joke about Delhi belly or Montezuma’s revenge when talking about the effects of foreign food on their stomach, but falling ill abroad is not much of a laughing matter when it happens to you.
Food poisoning claims are something that personal-injury specialists Slater & Gordon deal with on a regular basis, but if you want to avoid a problem in the first place, there are a few tips and strategies which might help reduce the odds of getting ill abroad.
Many potential dangers
The World Health Organization is behind Codex International Food Standards, which has been developed to try and establish more harmonized standards regarding food preparation and hygiene, in different countries around the globe.
There is a good reason to try and implement these standards across the globe because there are numerous food-related illnesses that you can become exposed to, each one with its own particular way of attacking your stomach and body in any manner of unpleasant ways.
The most common illness for travellers abroad is diarrhoea, which is most definitely not confined to an area of India, in fact, a diarrhea affects about 60% of us in varying degrees, during our excursions abroad.
Before you go
There are some things that you can do before you go on holiday which might help to reduce the impact of food poisoning and put you in better shape to contend with an illness like that.
Regular exercise and plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables is sound advice for a healthy lifestyle at any time, but if you have a bit of a health kick and get plenty of sleep leading up to your intended travel date, this will boost your immune system and could help you get rid of any germs more easily.
This would be a good strategy to adopt before you travel and will reduce the prospect of spending more time in bed or on the toilet, than you intended.
When you are there
Access to clean drinking water can be an issue in some parts of the world and if you want to avoid food poisoning, it is advisable to try and only drink bottled or sterilized water, and avoid having any ice in drinks.
Always try to eat food that has been freshly cooked and is still piping hot when it gets to your table. Uncooked food, unless you have the chance to peel or shell it yourself, should generally be avoided, and salads are a potential hazard, because they will probably have been washed in the local water, which may be contaminated.
If you become ill
If you are unfortunate enough to get some sort of food poisoning, you have very few options other to try and limit the prospect of getting dehydrated, by replacing the fluids that you may lose.
Rehydration salts can help children to keep their fluid levels up and plenty of fresh water, on a little and often basis, will help the recovery process.
Always report the illness to the travel operator and the hotel concerned, and contact your insurer if the illness turns out to be something more serious than a bout of Delhi belly.
Maisie Whitehead is a keen writer and loves to travel the world. She is combining both of her passions by writing travel related articles for various sites online while she explores Sri Lanka.