Title – Ask the pharmacist… insect bites
Source – London Lite
Date – 16th July 2007
At Beyond The Blue we are not in the business of recommending certain brands over others and don’t endorse those mentioned in this article over others. But our instructors are all experienced travellers and all have their own preferences they have used in the course of their travels. We do all have one thing in common, we have all been bitten by insects in parts of the world where this is not just an irritation, but a serious health concern.
Mosquitoes, sand flies, bed bugs, fleas, horse flies, mites, ticks, aggressor bugs and the literally hundreds of other varieties of insects that bite and many that carry serious and often deadly diseases are found in almost every environment in the world and for the traveller in this case, ignorance is not bliss it is potentially deadly.
Prevention is the key to protection and measures such as prophylactic drugs should be considered the vital second line of defence.
On our travels we have heard it a hundred times; one traveller asks the next what anti-malaria drugs they are taking and they exchange the horror stories of side effects that come mainly from the grapevine rather then a qualified physician. Then another traveller interjects; they didn’t bother, they claim that in their experience, the risks are over stated, the drugs too expensive and the side effects too dangerous, they even suggest in their tone that there is some credibility to be gained in their bravado, that somehow they are a more hardy traveller because they don’t take the drugs to protect themselves and rely of mumbo-jumbo methods of protecting themselves that they heard 10th hand from an Amazonian Indian tribe……. The picture is one all experienced travellers have heard and one that anyone with any level of common sense knows is peppered with potentially very serious flaws.
The facts speak for themselves, despite having access to the worlds most developed and tested drugs, many travellers from the UK still choose for one reason or another to travel to areas of the world that are burdened with the effects of malaria (that kills more then a million people every year) without taking prophylactic drugs to protect themselves. It is from this group that generally come the 2000 or so individuals that contract malaria every year in the UK. It’s a high price to pay for a little 'Street Cred', or to save a few pounds by not buying the drugs required for the destination you intend to travel to.
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop examines the various dangers from insect bites, how to avoid them and what precautions to take before you travel. The workshops are designed to examine every aspect of travel planning and in-country experiences to allow those attending to prepare with the facts rather then relying on the grapevine for their most important planning and implementation stages.
Source – London Lite
Date – 16th July 2007
At Beyond The Blue we are not in the business of recommending certain brands over others and don’t endorse those mentioned in this article over others. But our instructors are all experienced travellers and all have their own preferences they have used in the course of their travels. We do all have one thing in common, we have all been bitten by insects in parts of the world where this is not just an irritation, but a serious health concern.
Mosquitoes, sand flies, bed bugs, fleas, horse flies, mites, ticks, aggressor bugs and the literally hundreds of other varieties of insects that bite and many that carry serious and often deadly diseases are found in almost every environment in the world and for the traveller in this case, ignorance is not bliss it is potentially deadly.
Prevention is the key to protection and measures such as prophylactic drugs should be considered the vital second line of defence.
On our travels we have heard it a hundred times; one traveller asks the next what anti-malaria drugs they are taking and they exchange the horror stories of side effects that come mainly from the grapevine rather then a qualified physician. Then another traveller interjects; they didn’t bother, they claim that in their experience, the risks are over stated, the drugs too expensive and the side effects too dangerous, they even suggest in their tone that there is some credibility to be gained in their bravado, that somehow they are a more hardy traveller because they don’t take the drugs to protect themselves and rely of mumbo-jumbo methods of protecting themselves that they heard 10th hand from an Amazonian Indian tribe……. The picture is one all experienced travellers have heard and one that anyone with any level of common sense knows is peppered with potentially very serious flaws.
The facts speak for themselves, despite having access to the worlds most developed and tested drugs, many travellers from the UK still choose for one reason or another to travel to areas of the world that are burdened with the effects of malaria (that kills more then a million people every year) without taking prophylactic drugs to protect themselves. It is from this group that generally come the 2000 or so individuals that contract malaria every year in the UK. It’s a high price to pay for a little 'Street Cred', or to save a few pounds by not buying the drugs required for the destination you intend to travel to.
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety and Awareness workshop examines the various dangers from insect bites, how to avoid them and what precautions to take before you travel. The workshops are designed to examine every aspect of travel planning and in-country experiences to allow those attending to prepare with the facts rather then relying on the grapevine for their most important planning and implementation stages.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
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