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Tue 27 Jan, 2009 11:01 pm
@gungasnake,
When I worked in AFrica we had several dos and donts to protect against the disease. SImple hygiene is about 90% of it
Quote: If you're traveling to cholera-endemic areas, your risk of contracting the disease is extremely low if you follow these precautions:
Wash your hands. Frequent hand washing is the best way to control cholera infection. Wash your hands thoroughly with hot, soapy water, especially before eating or preparing food, after using the toilet, and when you return from public places. Carry an alcohol-based hand sanitizer for times when water isn't available.
Avoid untreated water. Contaminated drinking water is the most common source of cholera infection. For that reason, drink only bottled water or water you've boiled or disinfected yourself. Hot beverages such as coffee and tea as well as bottled or canned soft drinks, and wine and beer are generally safe. Carefully wipe the outside of all bottles and cans before you open them and ask for drinks without ice. Use bottled water to brush your teeth.
Eat food that's completely cooked and hot. Choose food that's been thoroughly cooked and is served hot. Cholera bacteria can survive on room temperature food for up to five days and aren't destroyed by freezing. It's best to avoid street vendor food, but if you do buy it, make sure your meal is cooked in your presence and served hot.
Avoid sushi. Don't eat raw or improperly cooked fish and seafood of any kind.
Be careful with fruits and vegetables. When you're traveling, make sure that all fruits and vegetables that you eat are cooked or have thick skins that you peel yourself. Avoid lettuce in particular because it may have been rinsed in contaminated water.
Be wary of dairy foods. Avoid ice cream, which is often contaminated, and unpasteurized milk.
Cholera vaccine. Because travelers have a low risk of contracting cholera and because the traditional injected vaccine offers minimal protection, no cholera vaccine is currently available in the United States. A few countries offer two oral vaccines that may provide longer and better immunity than the older versions did. If you'd like more information about these vaccines, contact your doctor or local office of public health.
Keep in mind that no country requires immunization against cholera as a condition for entry.
The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has now passed the 3,000 mark, according to the WHO.
(Interestingly that gunga uses the pre-1901 name for this country.)
This calamity is a a political problem brought about by the total collapse of the economy of the place, which I refuse to call by the Carterite name of 'zimbabwe'.
Legitimate candidates for stupidest white man ever to walk the Earth is a very exclusive club with fewer than a dozen members; the requirement is stupidest ideas, with most far-reaching and evil consequences.
Jimmy Carter is a lifetime member of that club, along with people like Thomas Malthus, Chuck Darwin, Carl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Paul Ehrlich etc. etc. Carter's most major achievements in life are the present regimes in Iran and Rhodesia, and Chinese firms controlling the Panama Canal.
@Walter Hinteler,
Walter Hinteler wrote:
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(Interestingly that gunga uses the pre-1901 name for this country.)
The country only became officially "Zimbabwe" in 1980 - you're 79 years out of date, Walter, not like you at all!
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