Get Ready For Your Safe Trip Overseas
Sun Herald
Sunday November 20, 2005
There are so many potential hazards awaiting you these days. Diana Plater helps you navigate the difficulties.
BEFORE you can relax into your first on-board movie, take heed of a number of warnings for you and 4 million fellow Australians who travel overseas each year. First, have you got travel insurance? Medibank Private has moved into the travel insurance market with the message that "PAMMIC avoids PANIC". To avoid panic, it says travellers need: P passport; A airline tickets; M money; M medicines; I insurance; C camera. Launching its policy, Medibank Private managing director George Savvides said he's not convinced people understand the real financial risk of being caught without insurance. We agree, but surely you'd remember your passport and wallet. Then there's health concerns. The No 1 medical worry on travellers' minds if you believe everything you read is bird flu. But so far there have been no travel restrictions to any of the areas where avian flu is a concern, including Vietnam and Thailand. Still, if you're travelling to South-East Asia it's worth following some basic advice found on the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention website (www.cdc.gov). Most of the known cases involving humans have resulted from direct contact with poultry, so avoid touching chickens and ducks, and surfaces that might be contaminated with poultry faeces or secretions. Wash your hands often to kill potentially infectious material; if soap isn't available, use an alcohol-based hand gel. If you're going to eat chicken, make sure it's been cooked thoroughly flu viruses are destroyed by heat. After you return home, monitor your health for 10 days and call your health-care provider if you become ill with fever and develop a cough or have difficulty breathing. Then there's the classic travel hazard: food poisoning. Washing hands thoroughly before and after eating is the best way to avoid a day close to the bathroom, the Food Safety Information Council says. Council chairman Professor Tom McKeekin says travellers are most at risk in destinations that expose them to foreign bacteria. "Bacteria can be carried to the mouth on hands so avoid putting fingers and thumbs anywhere near your mouth," he said. Disposable wipes or alcohol-based gels should be used on hands if clean water is not available. Risky foods include fresh fruit and vegetables, uncooked or reheated food, ice-creams and seafood such as oysters, clams, mussels and barbecued prawns or mud crabs. Remember, too, the drinking water at your destination may not be safe. Choose bottled water or soft drinks with an unbroken seal, boil water or use a water purifier. And avoid ice. Then, of course, there's the unstable international political situation. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is introducing a five-level system for travel advisories to give Australians a better understanding of the relative risks in different countries. The Government is also changing the language of its advisories. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says this will make it clear to travellers that they are responsible themselves for taking the risk to travel.GIVEAWAYFor your free copy of The Sun-Herald Essential Guide To The Northern Territory, phone 1300 557 396. This 26-page colour guide offers advice on where to stay and what to do, from Alice Springs to Kakadu, and is sponsored by the Northern Territory Tourist Commission. Available while stocks last.
© 2005 Sun Herald
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