Three Nasty Intestinal Parasites And How To Avoid Them During Travel

When traveling out of the country, especially to developing countries, you want to take proper precautions to ensure that the only thing you bring home are souvenirs. If you are not careful, you will have intestinal parasites as a lasting memory of your time abroad.

Subtropical and tropical countries, especially those that are considered third world or developing, are the highest risk places in which you might travel. There are a number of parasites that you can pick up from contaminated sources such as dirt, drinking water and even food. Poor hygiene practices (such as food preparers in restaurants or street vendors) can contribute to your exposure of parasites. While there are hundreds that you can be exposes to, the most common parasites are types of worms: the roundworm, tapeworm and hookworm.

1. Roundworms – These parasites are typically transmitted through dirt. Soil contains the eggs of these roundworms and can contaminate vegetables and fruits that have been grown in this medium. Therefore, it is important that if you consume any fruits and vegetables that you purchase them intact where you are responsible for washing them and then peeling them yourself. Do not trust prepared fruit dishes or salads. Eat only cooked vegetables or fruit. Purchasing fruit from street vendors may be quaint and atmospheric, but you could suffer later for it unless you take proper precautions.

2. Tapeworms – There are various forms of tapeworms. You can ingest the larval form of the parasite by eating raw meat or meat that was not cooked properly. In addition, dog with tapeworm may defecate in the soil where fruits and vegetables have grown or even carry tapeworm eggs to water sources. You could pick up tapeworm eggs by accidentally ingesting some food or water that has come in contact with them.

3. Hookworms – These types of parasites can penetrate most skin areas. If you walk barefoot on a beach or soil that has been contaminated with the hookworm, thanks to dog or even human feces, these little critters can worm their way into your body and leave a lesion on your skin.

It is important to note that you may not necessarily show any symptoms right away when it comes to these parasites. In fact, you may be totally oblivious for as long as several weeks after you are already home from your trip abroad. You may not immediately link your symptoms to your trip. Therefore, you should be aware of the variety of symptoms that could occur with parasitic infections: coughing, appetite loss, nausea, pain and abdominal cramping, diarrhea or constipation, gas and bloating, fever, abrupt weight loss and even fever or rash.

If you experience any of the above symptoms, you should get to your doctor right away. Be sure to mention your trip and the places you visited. Try and bring a diary of the foods you ate and some of your activities. These clues may help the doctor in pinpointing which parasite you have so that they can order the proper testing to come to a correct diagnosis. From there, your doctor can then prescribe the proper treatment.

Be sure to take proper precautionary measures when you travel. Watch what you eat and drink. After all, you want your souvenirs to be of the non-parasitic variety.

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