Travel Bugs – Don't Drink the Water! (Part I)

When considering traveling, working, or volunteering abroad, the responsible healthcare professional heads to the travel clinic to get updated on the typical vaccinations, such as tetanus, meningitis, and hepatitis. Depending where they'll wander, they may even get a yellow fever shot or a stock of malaria pills.

But what other bugs – whether rare or common – might one encounter, aside from the usual childhood diseases (e.g., mumps, measles, chicken pox) and other diseases familiar to North Americans (e.g., rabies, West Nile virus, Lyme disease, Norwalk virus, TB) …?

Today's "bugs" to beware of are worms and protozoans (Part I)!

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Amebiasis

• How do you get it? – By eating or drinking fecally contaminated food or beverages, or by person-to-person contact.

• What causes it? – A protozoan called Entamoeba histolytica.

• What is it? – A parasitic infection of the intestine, with the most common symptom being diarrhea, which can become dysentery.

• Where is it found? – It can occur anywhere, but is most common in tropical areas with crowded living conditions and poor sanitation. Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and India have significant health problems associated with this disease.

• Prevention? – No vaccine is available. Be careful about what you eat or drink, e.g., drink boiled or purified water, do not eat uncooked vegetables or fruit you have not unpeeled yourself, etc.

Ascariasis

• How do you get it? – By consuming fecally contaminated food or beverages, or by person-to-person contact.

• What causes it? – A roundworm called Ascaris lumbricoides.

• What is it? – A parasitic infection, which may be asymptomatic, but can result in passing worms in stool, vomiting up worms, worms exiting through the nose or mouth, low-grade fever, cough, bloody sputum, wheezing, shortness of breath, rash, vomiting, stomach pain. Complications can include biliary tract obstruction, perforation of the gut, intestinal blockage, and abscesses.

• Where is it found? – Worldwide, but usually in areas with poor personal hygiene and poor sanitation, and/or places where human feces are used as fertilizer.

Cryptosporidiosis

• How do you get it? – It is transmitted through fecal contamination, including ingesting contaminated food or water, contacting contaminated surfaces, and person to person contact.

• What causes it? – A protozoan called Cryptosporidium parvum.

• What is it? – A parasitic infection involving watery diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting, and fever lasting an average of six to 10 days. It can become chronic and be fatal in those with severely weakened immune systems.

• Where is it found? – Although it is found particularly in resource-poor country, cryptosporidiosis occurs worldwide.

• Prevention? – No vaccine is available. Be careful about where you swim, and what you eat or drink, e.g., drink boiled or purified water, do not eat uncooked vegetables or fruit you have not unpeeled yourself, etc.

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Check back for other items in our Travel Bugs series:

• Travel Bugs – Beware the Bite!

• Travel Bugs – Gotta "Fly"?

• Travel Bugs – This Will Bug You!

• Travel Bugs – Don't Drink the Water! (Part II)

• Travel Bugs – Don't Drink the Water! (Part III)

• Travel Bugs – Fungus Among Us

• Travel Bugs – Miscellaneous Menaces

Want more information?

• World Health Organization's International Travel and Health page

• National Center for Infectious Diseases' Travelers' Health page