Staying Healthy During Your Trip

Travelers should take the following precautions

To stay healthy, do...

* Wash your hands often with soap and water or, if hands are not visibly soiled, use a waterless, alcohol-based hand rub to remove potentially infectious materials from your skin and help prevent disease transmission.
* In developing countries, drink only bottled or boiled water, or carbonated (bubbly) drinks in cans or bottles. Avoid tap water, fountain drinks, and ice cubes. If this is not possible, learn how to make water safer to drink.
* Take your malaria prevention medication before, during, and after travel, as directed. (See your health care provider for a prescription.)
* To prevent fungal and parasitic infections, keep feet clean and dry, and do not go barefoot, even on beaches.
* Always use latex condoms to reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
* Protect yourself from mosquito insect bites:
o Wear long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and hats when outdoors.
o Use insect repellents that contain DEET (N, N-diethylmethyltoluamide). For more information about insect repellents and correct use, see What You Need to Know about Mosquito Repellent on the CDC West Nile Virus site.
o If no screening or air conditioning is available: use a pyrethroid-containing spray in living and sleeping areas during evening and night-time hours; sleep under bed nets, preferably insecticide-treated ones.
o If you are visiting friends and relatives in your home country, see additional special information about malaria prevention in Recent Immigrants to the U.S. from Malarious Countries Returning 'Home' to Visit Friends and Relatives on the CDC Malaria site.

Do not

* Do not eat food purchased from street vendors or food that is not well cooked to reduce risk of infection (i.e., hepatitis A and typhoid fever).
* Do not drink beverages with ice.
* Avoid dairy products, unless you know they have been pasteurized.
* Do not swim in fresh water to avoid exposure to certain water-borne diseases such as schistosomiasis.
* Do not handle animals, especially monkeys, dogs, and cats, to avoid bites and serious diseases (including rabies and plague). Consider pre-exposure rabies vaccination if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas. For more information, please see Animal-Associated Hazards.
* Do not share needles for tattoos, body piercing or injections to prevent infections such as HIV and hepatitis B.
* Avoid poultry farms, bird markets, and other places where live poultry is raised or kept.

After You Return Home

If you have visited a malaria-risk area, continue taking your antimalarial drug for 4 weeks (mefloquine or doxycycline) or seven days (atovaquone/proguanil) after leaving the risk area.

Malaria is always a serious disease and may be a deadly illness. If you become ill with a fever or flu-like illness either while traveling in a malaria-risk area or after you return home (for up to1 year), you should seek immediate medical attention and should tell your health care provider your travel history.

Permission granted by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to use the above content. For further information regarding travel related health issues you are advised to visit their website at www.cdc.gov/travel