More than a quarter of holidaymakers suffer from intestinal problems on holiday. Do you have a vacation planned soon? With these tips you can avoid getting the stomach flu during your trip.
Stomach flu or food infection?
If you get stomach problems, diarrhea or vomiting while camping or traveling, you quickly think of the stomach flu. But that is rarely the case. It is usually a food infection or traveler’s diarrhea.
With a stomach flu, a virus has entered your stomach and intestines. Your body will try to get it out of your body as quickly as possible, causing you to vomit or have diarrhea. You can get stomach flu from virus particles that spread, just think of corona. With a food infection you also get the wrong bacteria, but this is always due to food that has been heated badly or is simply no longer good. Drinking tap water abroad can also make you sick. This water is often polluted.
Symptoms of a food infection
Traveler’s diarrhea or food infection is therefore caused by eating or drinking food or drink that is contaminated with one or more bacteria. Complaints that can arise as a result are:
Warm temperatures
Foodborne infections are more likely to occur in areas where it is very hot. You can compare it to a sandwich in a bag. If you keep it in the fridge, after nine hours the bacteria has multiplied to ‘only’ 256 bacteria. If you keep the same bag at room temperature, after nine hours there will be no fewer than sixteen million bacteria.
Preventing stomach flu or food infection on holiday
Fortunately, a food infection or stomach flu is reasonably preventable. But if you don’t pay attention, an infection can seriously ruin your holiday. These tips will surely help:
- Do not drink tap water (including to brush your teeth).
- Preferably choose drinks from cans or boiled water, such as tea or coffee.
- Never take ice cubes.
- Do not eat cold, raw and unpasteurized foods. Therefore, do not just choose a salad, the lettuce is often washed with tap water.
- Make sure meat is well done.
- Avoid eating oysters, shrimp and lobster.
- Find as much fresh food as possible.
- Preferably wash and peel your fruit yourself.
- Don’t forget to wash your hands regularly (especially after going to the toilet)
- Do you order food from a place on the street? Make sure the food is fresh and hasn’t been there for a while.
ORS
If the above tips do not help and you are still in bed with stomach complaints? Continue to drink plenty of water to prevent dehydration and be sure to take an ORS solution. ORS is a combination of salts and (grape) sugars. The sugar in ORS means the water you drink is absorbed into the bloodstream faster. The salt replenishes the sodium deficiency, which is necessary to maintain the fluid balance.
Didn’t bring ORS on holiday? You can also make this yourself. Mix eight teaspoons of honey with one teaspoon of salt and one liter of bottled water. Add orange or lemon for flavor if desired. You can also add a teaspoon of salt to a liter of Coke. This has about the same effect.
It is best to continue to eat healthy and varied and to drink plenty of fluids. But beware, some things you should not eat or drink:
Source: Oxfam Novib, Nutrition center