Below is what I put on another post. Hope it helps.
Just had my consultation with the travel immunologist and received shots for Yellow Fever and Hepatitis A. I also received an oral Rx for malaria and was asked how long ago I had a tetanus shot. Tetanus is good for 10 years. He said that since I am traveling with Tauck (or any other reputable travel organization) and am only going for a short time, those would be all that would be needed. When I asked about MMR, Polio and Hepatitis B his comments were that I am traveling in a Tauck "bubble" and that other immunizations would not be necessary. Hepatitis B is required if you are planning on hooking up with a local for sex or are an IV drug user. Those aren't on my "to do list", so I opted out of that Rx. Also, if I was going for a long time, or living in a village with a local family, my needs would be different. His thoughts were that there is no reason to overdo it. He also gave me an antibiotic just incase of an intestinal infection and he suggested taking Imodium to go along with the antibiotic incase of an intestinal bug.
I thought his best suggestions were concerning food and water:
1. Boil it. Water needs to be boiled or come from a credible bottled water company (make sure it is SEALED).
2. Cook it. Eat in Tauck certified and hotel restaurants and make sure the meat and vegetables are cooked not raw.
3. Peel it. Only eat fruit that you peel YOURSELF (bananas, oranges, etc.) and make sure the peel doesn't have any splits or openings.
4. Leave it. If it doesn't fit into those categories leave it alone.
5. NO RAW SALADS....NONE....ANYWHERE (refer to item two....no raw veggies).
6. USE BOTTLED WATER, EVEN TO RINSE YOUR MOUTH WHEN BRUSHING YOUR TEETH. (This is when most people get some sort of intestinal infection. They drink bottled water but use tap water to brush their teeth.)
Basic thought was two rules--first. follow 1-6, second. no one can change 1-6.
All these immunizations were based on MY physical health. Your physician may have some other course of prophylactic medications based on your overall health conditions and their philosophy. I am also a child of the 40s, by the way.
I will be visiting Tanzania this summer for the second time. There is plenty of bottled water. It's really easy to forget no to use the cold tap for teeth brushing, so on our last tour where it was advised not to brush teeth with tap water I tied a hair bobble to the tap and it really helped us not use it.
The last time we were in Tanzania we had some of the best choice of food ever. The tour director will tell you whether the salads and fruit have been washed with filtered water and therefore safe to eat, that was certainly the case in India this year and I am still alive.
Thanks for the help. I guess having someone tell us if the fresh veggies and fruits are washed in filtered water is part of that Tauck "Bubble." I appreciate it. Hopefully, Tauck can be positive of the cleansing of the food. Personally, I think I'll be conservative on my approach to eating fresh vegetables and fruits. It is not like I'll never have them again. I've had dysentery and I KNOW I don't want to have it again. Projectile expulsion from both ends (I tried to say that as tactfully and subtly as I could) was not pleasant. I don't know if it was the dysentery or the malaria, but I dropped from 185 lbs. to 145 lbs. in about two weeks. Somehow I think it was a "team" effort--but I don't want to go through it again so I'll follow the doctor's advice and use bottled water and eat only cooked veggies and fruits.
However, being a firm believer in free will, I will stand by the philosophy that it is up to each individual. We have certainly been subject to a variety of information here and can make an informed decision.
After some further review and research, I want to note that "filtered" water will not wash all of the contaminants off of the fruits and vegetables, especially the fecal material. Only cooking them or peeling them yourself is as fool-proof as it can be. Just FYI. It is up to each traveler to pick their own poison.
I also wanted to make one more final comment on this subject. Yes, you are quite right, we all have to decide for ourselves what to do. However, I assume that if there have been any problems with food poisoning at any of the hotels, Tauck would be fully aware of it and warn customers about it. The last thing a tour director wants is a bus load of people puking and worse!
Quite often, any sickness problems are because people are not washing their hands enough, correctly or at all and remembering not to touch their face- which is particularly hard to remember not to do. Next time you go in a supermarket and see a food handler wearing rubber gloves, just watch how often they touch their face and hair. It's always amazing to me because having spent a lot of my time working in operating theaters in the past, I tend to notice.
I just don't want Tauck customers to be worried that they will be restricted. Most of the food will be cooked and prepared probably better than in your average fast food US restaurant. We have to remember that in a country like Africa, a job in a hotel kitchen is a good and prestigious one to have and sick customers and sloppy food prep won't equate with job security. I won't necessarily be eating everything I see, I just remember that I have been to Africa before and all was ok.
We did the Kenya Tanzania Safari and ate EVERYTHING with great abandon at all of the places we visited. However, we were very mindful about only drinking bottled water, never rinsing our toothbrushes in the sink, and keeping our mouths shut during showers! Travel to some of the more exotic places in the world has taught us to be dutiful about hand washing. Bring a lot of sanitizers and wipes, and use then often! We had no intestional problems on this trip. In fact, we had many more problems in Southeast Asia than in Africa.
Comments
Just had my consultation with the travel immunologist and received shots for Yellow Fever and Hepatitis A. I also received an oral Rx for malaria and was asked how long ago I had a tetanus shot. Tetanus is good for 10 years. He said that since I am traveling with Tauck (or any other reputable travel organization) and am only going for a short time, those would be all that would be needed. When I asked about MMR, Polio and Hepatitis B his comments were that I am traveling in a Tauck "bubble" and that other immunizations would not be necessary. Hepatitis B is required if you are planning on hooking up with a local for sex or are an IV drug user. Those aren't on my "to do list", so I opted out of that Rx. Also, if I was going for a long time, or living in a village with a local family, my needs would be different. His thoughts were that there is no reason to overdo it. He also gave me an antibiotic just incase of an intestinal infection and he suggested taking Imodium to go along with the antibiotic incase of an intestinal bug.
I thought his best suggestions were concerning food and water:
1. Boil it. Water needs to be boiled or come from a credible bottled water company (make sure it is SEALED).
2. Cook it. Eat in Tauck certified and hotel restaurants and make sure the meat and vegetables are cooked not raw.
3. Peel it. Only eat fruit that you peel YOURSELF (bananas, oranges, etc.) and make sure the peel doesn't have any splits or openings.
4. Leave it. If it doesn't fit into those categories leave it alone.
5. NO RAW SALADS....NONE....ANYWHERE (refer to item two....no raw veggies).
6. USE BOTTLED WATER, EVEN TO RINSE YOUR MOUTH WHEN BRUSHING YOUR TEETH. (This is when most people get some sort of intestinal infection. They drink bottled water but use tap water to brush their teeth.)
Basic thought was two rules--first. follow 1-6, second. no one can change 1-6.
All these immunizations were based on MY physical health. Your physician may have some other course of prophylactic medications based on your overall health conditions and their philosophy. I am also a child of the 40s, by the way.
The last time we were in Tanzania we had some of the best choice of food ever. The tour director will tell you whether the salads and fruit have been washed with filtered water and therefore safe to eat, that was certainly the case in India this year and I am still alive.
However, being a firm believer in free will, I will stand by the philosophy that it is up to each individual. We have certainly been subject to a variety of information here and can make an informed decision.
Quite often, any sickness problems are because people are not washing their hands enough, correctly or at all and remembering not to touch their face- which is particularly hard to remember not to do. Next time you go in a supermarket and see a food handler wearing rubber gloves, just watch how often they touch their face and hair. It's always amazing to me because having spent a lot of my time working in operating theaters in the past, I tend to notice.
I just don't want Tauck customers to be worried that they will be restricted. Most of the food will be cooked and prepared probably better than in your average fast food US restaurant. We have to remember that in a country like Africa, a job in a hotel kitchen is a good and prestigious one to have and sick customers and sloppy food prep won't equate with job security. I won't necessarily be eating everything I see, I just remember that I have been to Africa before and all was ok.