Dengue Fever: Fastest Growing Vector Borne Disease?

The map shows worldwide distribution of Dengue Fever. Blue: Areas infested with Aedes aegypti. Red: Areas with Aedes aegypti and recent epidemic dengue fever. WorldNomads.com‘s roving medical expert Dr. Erik McLaughlin MD discusses Dengue Fever, its symptoms and the preventative measures travelers can take when visiting at risk areas. What is Dengue Fever? A recent article on Medical News Today discussed Dengue Fever as the fastest growing vector borne disease in the world.  Dengue is a viral illness that is spread by the bite of infected Aedes mosquitoes.  This illness, once confined to SE Asia has now become more common in Latin America, Asia, Africa, North America and even Australia.  Dengue, nicknamed “breakbone fever” due to the wracking muscle cramping it causes, has no specific treatment and carries a case fatality rate of 40-50% if left untreated and progresses to the dreaded Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF). Dengue fever is a flavavirus that is classified into 4 different... Read More →

Travel Scams 2.0: The Evolution of Deceit

You’ve most likely been warned about pickpockets, drink spiking, and conniving tuk-tuk drivers. However, new and increasingly more creative scams seem to keep popping up on the backpacker trails everywhere. We’ve highlighted some of the latest scammer tricks and trends, and how to handle them safely while they are happening. The Bogus Doctor Scam Relatives of overseas travellers are being contacted by bogus doctors and hospital staff claiming their family member has been injured and asking for money to be sent for medical treatment. In this new scam, relatives are contacted by phone, email or SMS text messages and given contact details of where to send the money that will pay for the treatment of their supposedly injured loved one. In reality, no one is in hospital, the details are their personal accounts – and if you panic and act on their request, you will be out a large sum of money. How to avoid this scam – You should share your insurance policy details with friends... Read More →

If Travelers Are Where Disaster Strikes: Survival Tips from WorldNomads.com

Immediately following the tragedy in Haiti, WorldNomads.com, the travel services company that’s helping travelers stay safe and stress-free on the road, posted information on their Travel Safety Hub on how travelers can safeguard their own health and safety in an earthquake / disaster affected area. If you have access to a working phone or the internet: - Make contact with family, friends & your local embassy and let them know that you’re safe. If you are injured or become ill - Contact your travel insurance 24-hour medical assistance service as soon as possible, they’ll guide you through what to do next. Follow their advice to the letter. - If you’re not covered under a travel insurance policy, seek attention at the nearest medical clinic or ask for directions to your nearest embassy. Beware of the environment: - Avoid downed power lines and disaster-caused hazards. Use battery-powered flashlights and lanterns, rather than candles, gas lanterns or torches. Following a disaster... Read More →

5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Going to Mexico

Ay, Caramba! You’ve gone on that long awaited vacation to Mexico and all of sudden you 1. Are sick 2. Had your money stolen or 3. Are stuck alone on a roadside! At World Nomads we’re lucky to have lots of friends in the travel industry, we polled them to give you the very best tips staying safe in Mexico. 1. Learn the Lingo. A little bit of Spanish goes a long way! Try your hardest with the locals and it will get you a lot further than simply trying to get them to understand English. Daniel Radcliffe,  Volunteer HQ 2. Drink responsibly. The variety of tequila is simply overwhelming, so was the hangover! Drink responsibly and test new alcohols cautiously and with friends that can watch out for you. No matter what your friends say don’t eat the worm in the Tequila bottle!! Mat Lewis, i-to-i 3. Stay alert! If you get far off the beaten path (for example, deep in the Copper Canyon) and see fancy late-model pickups and gated driveways, know that you’re in a drug growing and trafficking... Read More →

When bears attack! Practical tips for staying safe in the wilderness

One of my favorite quotes from Hunter S. Thompson is “Civilization ends at the waterline. Beyond that, we all enter the food chain, and not always right at the top.” I feel the same can be said for those who venture into the wilderness. WorldNomads.com‘s roving medical and adventure expert Dr. Erik McLaughlin MD shares these practical tips to help you enjoy the North American wilderness from the top of the food chain. Adventurers who enjoy hiking, tramping, cycling, climbing and outdoor pursuits should always be prepared for conditions they cannot control.  You can run into stronger, nastier and faster animals than yourselves… and it’s vital to know what to do. Perhaps the most frightening animal to outdoor adventurers is the bear.  I have a very healthy respect for bears of all types.  Common sense should be used by those traveling through bear country and all bears should be considered dangerous. Bear safety when you are camping: Avoid camping in known bear... Read More →

Sun Safety: How to Beat the Burn this Holiday

A lot of European beach-goers have heard of Croatia.  Warm water, beautiful beaches and great food make Croatia one of the “Dream holiday” destinations.  A little bit of precaution can help that perfect beach holiday from turning into a sunburned and uncomfortable week of redness.WorldNomads.com‘s roving medical expert Dr. Erik McLaughlin MD talks through sun safety, skin protection and burn treatment you’ll need for a painless trip to sunny Croatia. Sunburns The main cause of sunburns is not the sun itself but the ultraviolet energy.  Just to complicate matters, there are three main types of ultraviolet (UV) energy, designated A, B and C.  Erythema is what your skin gets after a day in the sun, which is redness, some slight swelling and pain.  Doses of UV energy and its effect on the skin are measured in units called minimal erythema doses (MED).  This MED represents the smallest does of UV energy to cause that “sunburn” appearance. Beachgoers are typically... Read More →

WorldNomads.com free iPhone and iPod Touch Language Guides

The WorldNomads.com free iPhone and iPod Touch language guides have been a HUGE hit with travelers all over the world, with over 610,000 downloads from iTunes in the 9 months since launch! Now the media loves them too. This week the language guides were voted ŒBest Freebie¹ by MSNBC! Available in 22 languages including Spanish, French, Italian, Mandarin, Thai and Turkish (see Worldnomads.com for a full list and details) each guide includes a few dozen basic travel phrases organized by category (such as ‘transport’, ‘food & eating’ and ‘directions’). Tap a category, select a phrase and a native speaker pronounces the phrase. As the MSNBC reviews says “a high-end feature we’re surprised to find in a free app.” For the full review see: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32464923/ns/travel-tips/ World Nomads has always taken a different approach to travel insurance by providing not just great insurance coverage and travel safety services, but also other tools to keep... Read More →

Hiking holiday? Here’s what to bring… just in case!

WorldNomads.com’s roving medical expert and afficionado of Adventure Travel Health, Dr. Erik McLaughlin MD helps you prepare for a hiking excursion. Hiking holidays are a great way to spend your time off.  These trips are often done at new trails and areas you’ve never been before and that is part of the excitement.  Often, people do a bit of hiking while they are packing their trip with other activities and do not specifically plan for their outdoor adventure.  Shore excursions from cruise ships are a prime examples of this. The factors of an unfamiliar area, being unprepared and often in a hurry can stack up against someone, quickly.  When adventuring outdoors, you want as many things in your favor as possible.  Here’s what to prepare for your hiking excursion on your trip! Signaling Device Phone/mobile/sat phone Mirror Whistle Being able to contact someone for help is probably the most important thing in an outdoor emergency.  Popularity of mobile phones has... Read More →

11 tips for overseas hospital treatment

You could have sworn that sushi smelt funny.  Unfortunately that thought is two hours too late and now you’re curled up in the toilet inventing a new guttural language. And then a new fear strikes you.  You’re in a foreign country, alone, and you really should go to hospital. Or should you? What do you need to know? What should you look out for? Dr Sneh Khemka, Bupa International’s Medical Director, tells you what to look out for if you need hospitalisation overseas. Being admitted to hospital 1. Choose the best option If you’re being admitted as an emergency or taken by ambulance, you often won’t have much choice in where you go.  However, if you can exercise choice, it’s important to select the best hospital for you – does it have the right services (eg a CT scanner), is it clean, can the staff speak your language etc? 2. Let your insurer know Once there, you should let your insurer know you have been admitted as soon as possible so you can ensure you... Read More →

Travel Safety Tips for Women Travelers

So you’ve packed your common sense and are all ready to go out and explore the world, but remember that old Boy Scout motto? ‘always be prepared!’ By taking some basic security precautions both prior to departure and while away, women travelers can greatly reduce the travel risks they might otherwise face. We searched the web for a experts on travel safety for women and here is what we’ve come up with. What the Detectives Have to Say: Jade, an Australian police detective, recommends the following for women traveling alone: “My number one tip is when going out to remember to get the business card of where you are staying before you head out to show to the cab driver/tuk tuk driver/donkey to get home again. I make sure now that someone knows where I am and when they are next likely to hear from me again just in case something goes wrong in between. I take a mobile with me for emergencies when I’m on my own too. It’s just about trying to maintain a balance between having... Read More →

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