pacleveland

My husband and I want to visit Angor Wat next month. He has been to Cambodia twice and both times gotten violently ill. Is there any way to prevent this from happening aside from the obvious of not drinking the water and not eating fresh vegs. and fruit?

mrwunrfl

http://www.cdc.gov/travel/
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/diseases/food/safety.htm

Amanda

Don't have any ice in your drinks - just drink it anything from the bottle.

Kathie

The cdc website cited above gives an excellent summary of food and water precautions. I travel to SE Asia regularly, and I've never gotten sick. I don't eat at food stalls, but I don't confine myself to hotel restaurants either. I just follow food and water precautions. An important thing to remember is to wash your hands before you eat anything. Take along some sanitizing hand wipes for times when you can't otherwsie wash your hands.

TracyB

I always follow the same rules when we travel to developing countries...Only drink bottled water (even when brushing your teeth)..Don't drink anything that perhaps have water or ice in it.....Only eat fruits that you peel yourself.....Don't eat raw veggies, only cooked...Also, buffets can sometimes be the culprit as well, as food may have been sitting for a long time....But all in all, sometimes you just can't help from becoming a little ill..but if you follow everything you can to prevent illness, then at least you tried...Oh and as already stated, always wash you hands...

Sameera

Also, be a little careful when eating curries and in general avoid spicy items. I am Indian however Thai curries still have the ability to give me an upset stomach - this is often because the palette is not used to the combination of spices used.

Daneille

Ditto to all of the above. Just one other precaution I followed when buying bottled water from vendors in India. Always ensure the bottle is sealed - that is that the plastic screw top seals that connect it to the plastic ring on the bottle are not broken. Found that more than a few vendors refilled drinking water bottles.

epi

We use the pepto-bismol prevention method. There has been a well-conducted study which shows that if you take pepto-bismol (or generic equivalent)prophylactically in the following way, the incidence of gastric problems due to food is reduced. Chew two tablets before each meal and two before bed. NOTE: CHECK WITH YOUR DOC BEFORE DOING THIS. Also, don't do this if you are allergic to aspirin. However with these provisos, your husband (and you) might want to try this along with all the precautions mentioned above. One important piece of information: pepto turns your stool black, so if you decide to use this method, don't worry when you see black stools.
Make sure you travel with ciprofloxacin to treat food poisoning if you get it. Good luck.