Travel Health in Egypt

You must have heard or rather experiences yourself some time or the other, the traveler’s diarrhea is very common with people and it is something to look out when you are traveling. Many people complain about the health in Egypt and that seems like a serious issue. If this is one of your concerns, then you reached the right place. This problem of traveler’s diarrhea starts when unwanted bacteria, protozoa, and viruses enter your system through contaminated food and water.

We are talking about health in Egypt, and this problem can occur in any country. The reason for this health challenge can be due to people being unfamiliar with what they are eating and most importantly, where they are eating. The local delicacies sound like a real deal but somehow unthinkable eating of those dishes can cause health issues. We came up with few simple tips to stay away from food and drinks related problems, and those are, peel it, cook it, or just forget it!

Drinking-Water in Egypt

It is the most important thing when you are anywhere else and a little carelessness with drinking water can cost you. You ought to take care of your drinking water, especially in areas where there is a hygiene and sanitation problem.

Tap Water Safety

Drinking water is handled differently in different regions in Egypt and you can’t be sure about what is going on with it. The safety of drinking water really depends on the water supply of that area and most of the time-poor quality of water starts at the local supply center itself.

Water can be contaminated due to various reasons:

• Rusted and old water treatment systems and pipes
• Lack of safe storage of water
• Poor sanitation in the area
• Chemical pollutants entering the water supply system
• Agricultural run-off water
• Untreated animal or human waste
• Natural disasters such as flooding

Health in Egypt is highly affected by the drinking water, and every bit of the change in its supply makes a difference in increasing or decreasing the issue. These reasons are a ticking time bomb and a slight change in the composition can give rise to traveler’s diarrhea.

How to prevent water-borne diseases?

1. Boil the drinking water

This is the very first thing to do when you have running tap water for drinking. You must bring the water to a steaming boil, which destroys all the pathogens that can be the cause of gastrointestinal infection or any other problem. Also, drink the water only after it has cooled down.

2. Bottled water

The best way for any travelers is to rely on bottled water. It is safe and free of any contamination. However, you must check that the bottle cap is properly sealed, as there are cases of reuse and recycle.

3. Treated water

This is one of the water disinfection methods that really help in killing the germs in the water. This method of filtration and UV and chemical disinfection can be of great help.

Food Safety in Egypt

Visiting a new country has its perk and hogging on every new dish is just one of the advantages. However, falling sick in an unknown country is a big price to pay, you must always be careful while eating on the road and restaurants, there is a number of things that can go wrong.

How food becomes contaminated?

There are various reasons that contribute to gastrointestinal illness via food. The finished food we eat goes through various stages, from the market place, freezer, storage facility, and others. Don’t you think it's easy for food to get contaminated in the process?

Here are a few things that contaminate the food:

• Poor hand hygiene
• Washing the food with untreated water can have a bad effect
• Bad cooking, refrigeration, and storage procedure
• Cross-contamination cooked items and raw food is a dangerous one
• Non-sanitized cooking tools

How to prevent food-borne diseases?

When you are a traveler to Egypt, it’s important to avoid certain types of food for safety purposes. Here is a few foods that must be avoided due to increased risk of contamination.

• Undercooked or raw meat, some poultry items, seafood, and fish
• Unpeeled or cut fruits, vegetables on the streets
• Unpasteurized dairy items
• Unrefrigerated food or uncovered buffets items

As we mentioned earlier, it is not just about what you eat but also where you eat. So make sure you are eating in proper restaurants and not some street side places.

Travel Insurance in Egypt

Egypt does not have any health agreement with countries like Canada, Australia, United States or the UK. This means that you will be left to take care of your health expenses on your own, you must get the travel insurance beforehand to avoid any such problem while you are in the country, which will cover all the issues related to health in Egypt.

Stay Hydrated

Take your sun block along with you to protect yourself from the sun, the temperature is always high and you will need to be properly hydrated to avoid sunstroke.

Hand Hygiene

This is where all the problems related to health in Egypt start; you will have to be careful with your hand hygiene now more than ever. You must maintain the practice and wash your hands before eating or touching your face.

The health related problems in Egypt is not inevitable, you can take certain precautions and align a healthy tour of this brilliant location. Remember to stay hydrated to get passed any health complications. When you take care of small things while traveling, it really helps you stay healthy and explore better.