How many gringos get sick?

[STM]

I came back with a cold this trip, lucky it started on my last day.

I wonder how many gringos get a sore throat and cold on their trips to Colombia, .
I never get sick normally in the US.

I get a cold about every 4-5th trip Colombia.

Only got really sick , on one trip to BQ, all others were colds/sore throats.
I doubled-up with stomach cramps for 1 day in BQ, threw up for a day (again lucky it was last day of trip), was completely exhausted going to the bathroom every 30 minutes for aweek after I got back from BQ.
Bad water in BQ, take the up most pre-caution, even in the shower.
I stayed at Puerta Del Sol Hotel.

I eat only healty foods , no smoke, take vitamins, workout, rarely get sick in the US.

"What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"
quote from some oriental karate guru.

[SJI]

Sometimes I get a nasty cough when in Bogota for more than a week. I think it's the pollution.

I totally agree..... I almost died in Cali in 1999 at the Inter hotel. Almost died again in BQ in 2K. Diarria, hemroids, ralphin', you name, it I had it. It's the damn water in Colombia especially in BQ. It really sucks but that's part of the Colombia experience. You can take every precaution and you will still get sick.!

[Brighton]

I guess I got lucky on my first trip to Bogotá in early August. I thought the altitude might bother me but went jogging the first morning and was fine. Started drinking tap water by the 3rd day and never went back to bottled. Probably the dumbest think I did was buy one cup of that fermented rice beverage served at room temp. It has the consistency of thin yogurt or warm spit but it tastes OK in small doses - maybe the alcohol content kills whatever might be in the water! I also tried to sample a fermented corn beverage but could never find it. Maybe that would have done me in (haha).

[Eastwood]

I've been on 15 3rd world trips (Manila, Colombia, etc) and never got sick before I turned 40. After 40, I've been catching the locals' colds. I have never got food poisoning in a foreign country and I always eat at the cheapest roadside places. I can explain my never getting sick before 40 by:
1) youth and health
2) poor kitchen cleanliness and sloppy food storage at home. It's true; recently I read an study which concluded that super clean and careful people have a lower tolerance to food borne bacteria. My sloppiness over the years built up my immune system. So it doesn't pay to be too clean in the kitchen!

[Chao]

I got Montezuma's revenge last December. The symptoms didn't show up until after I got back to the U.S. I am careful not to drink any water down in Colombia unless it is bottled. I don't eat food sold on the streets, don't eat raw vegetables or fruit unless you can peel it, etc. I think I got it from drinking a lot of limonadas.

chao

My impression is that you don't find much problem with traveler’s diarrhea in Bogota and the surrounding high plateau. I've always drank tap water in and around Bogota and never did anything differently than where I live, and I've never had problems. I've read that the problem with Mexico and Central America is that the so-called "agua portable" has a very high load of E. coli, including strains that many of us aren't used to. No doubt one can get partial immunity after a while, but I get the impression that, in central Mexico, the upper-middle and wealthy locals also take some precautions with the water. I haven't spent time in parts of Colombia other than Bogota, but I suspect that the situation in lower and warmer parts might be more similar to Mexico and Central America.

Bogota is a little higher than Estes Park, Colorado (2600 m, 8300 feet or something like that, v. around 7,500 for Estes Park). I live at an altitude of less than 100 feet. Sometimes going to areas of high altitude has bothered me; sometimes it hasn't. I think it's more likely to bother me when I go in dehydrated. I tend to try to drink a little more water on the in-bound flight, and avoid coffee and alcohol. They say that the problem isn't the altitude you're at when you're awake; it's what you're at when you sleep. Since I take a red-eye to Colombia and sleep poorly in a pressurized cabin (which is equivalent to something distinctly higher than 100 feet), I probably get some acclimation that way. Just to be safe, I tend to wait until the second morning to go running. I haven't had much trouble in Cundinamarca, but I "bulled through" one Colorado vacation with the closest thing I've ever had to a migraine, something that I attributed to altitude.

[Lostagain]

Living here puts a different perspective on the bugs you get, I suppose, but I have not had many problems since moving to Cali last year. On one visit, I did get a nasty case of Mono Jojoy's revenge, which went away with some Lomotil tablets I bought here in a pharmacy. The main thing is to stay hydrated during the problem. I drank a lot of Coca Cola with lime. I think I got the problem from eating at my girlfriend's sister's home, which had a primative kitchen with no running water. She lives in a small town in mountains north of Cali (where I don't feel it is safe to go anymore, but not on account of the sanitation). I have been there several times since and have not had any more problems with her food.

I did get food poisoning once, as did everyone I was with, from what I believe was poor food handling techniques. For some reason many poorer Colombians abhor using the refrigerator, even if they have one, and leave food out in the tropical heat. We ate at a friend's and I think the food had been left out too long. One night of puking my guts up did the trick. And I survived.

I regularly drink the water here in Cali, though they say there are some parasites in it. Maybe that's why I haven't had a weight problem since moving here. We use a Britta water filter that attaches to the faucet; however, I'm down to my last cartridge and am going to have to remove it soon. I really use the filter more to get some of the chemicals out, more than to remove bugs. In fact, I drink the water all the time in other places and have had no problems.

I have to say the Colombians are generally quite fastidious and they generally have potable water in their municipal water systems; even the small towns. In fact, I think as a general rule, most public restroom facilities are vastly cleaner here than many I have seen in the US, especially bus stations, shopping centers, fast food joints, etc. It may be funky, but its clean.

If you do not travel here regularly, you should certainly use caution with small town water supplies, but then you need to ask yourself why you're in a small town anyway. The water in the metropolitan areas is pretty safe to drink. Mono Jojoy's revenge is probably more from the change in normal intestinal flora than it is from some bad bug and will go away quickly with no radical treatments.

The real danger at lower elevations, such as Cali, is dengue fever and, in coastal areas, other tropical delights like malaria. In Bogotá you are not exposed to such infermities. Colds also seem to be a problem here, but I think they are related to the everyday insult your body receives from the tons of **** in the air from the busses, 2 cycle motorscooters, etc. Asthma is becoming a serious problem in the cities here because of the air pollution problem.

So, when you visit, you are probably safer drinking water than aguardiente. At least when you wake up the next morning, the worst may only be a powerful laxitive.

Lost Again in Cali.

I got diarrhea very bad on my second trip to Cali. I couldn't hold anything and was getting dehydrated. A friend took me to the outpatient clinic at a hospital near to Cosmocentral. The doctor tested me and said I had a bacterial infection common to this area that Colombianos normally have immunity to. He prescribed "Bactrim" which cleared up my problem nearly immediately. My next trip to Cali, I didn't get sick for several weeks and when I did, I went straight to the pharmacy and told them I wanted some Bactrim which of course they will sell to anyone without prescription. Again it nearly immediately had me back to normal.

[Tinto]

I've been meaning to resurrect this thread. One of my concerns in visiting, and living in SA, is to try and avoid parasites. It is a bit of a gruesome subject matter but I wonder how many of us bring back some unwanted passengers from our visits to Latin America.

Some expats and guys coming down drink tap water especially from cities that have fairly good treated water supplies like Medellin and Bogotá. Personally, I drink only bottled water because I don't trust tap water even in these large cities.

One area that is hard to scrutinize is how safe is the food that you are eating in restaurants that most of us frequent on a daily basis. Having a restaurant background I know that food handling practices are nowhere near what it is in the US. Food is left out for long periods of time without refrigeration and even at the food stores, refrigeration is often inadequate and well above safe temperatures.

I doubt very seriously if there are such things as food handler's certificates and restaurant food inspections. It amazes me how many people use the restroom without washing their hands and food preparers are probably no better.

I remember visiting Barranquilla last year with another board member and after one meal we had at a fast food eatery our stomachs were doing somersaults. I took some over the counter medicine purchased at a pharmacy but when I returned home went on an herbal remedy regime to cleanse out my system. Even visiting my doctor wasn't too encouraging because he said that many parasites are difficult to detect.

YouTube has some very interesting videos on the subject. It appears that Animal Planet did a series on parasites and I watched a few before being throughly grossed out. If you care to look at them here are a few. I'd be interested in any feedback other than YICK!!!

BRAZIL CANDIRU FISH
GUATEMALA TAPEWORMS & PERU GIARDIA
MEXICAN ROUNDWORMS & TAPEWORMS
BORNEO HOOKWORMS
FACIAL WORMS

Sushi anyone?