On Friday, January 23, 2015 at 4:44:02 PM UTC-10, Xeno wrote:
> On 24/01/2015 1:25 PM, dsi2 wrote:
> > On 1/23/2015 2:07 PM, Xeno wrote:
> >> On 24/01/2015 10:32 AM, Janet Wilder wrote:
> >>> On 1/23/2015 4:25 PM, Xeno wrote:
> >>>> On 24/01/2015 7:47 AM, Sqwertz wrote:
> >>>>> On Fri, 23 Jan 2015 13:36:36 -0600, Janet Wilder wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>> Neither of us can tolerate hot-spicy foods. What are some things
> >>>>>> in Ho
> >>>>>> Chi Minh City that you all would recommend we order?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> No chicken--the travel nurse said not to order chicken because of
> >>>>>> bird flu.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Your nurse is paranoid and over-reactive. You stand a much better
> >>>>> chance of getting salmonella or listeria here in the U.S. than you do
> >>>>> getting bird flu in SE Asia. Your best bet in Vietnam right now is
> >>>>> contracting measles more than anything else.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> -sw
> >>>>>
> >>>> True. It seems the only people who contract bird flu are those who work
> >>>> full time with live chickens. The paranoia spreads far more readily
> >>>> than
> >>>> the bird flu does.
> >>>>
> >>> It was my friend's travel nurse who is with Kaiser. It is in Kaiser's
> >>> literature on traveling to those countries.
> >>>
> >>> I've had more than my share of health issues and I live with (currently
> >>> in remission) lung cancer, so please understand if I'm a bit over
> >>> cautious.
> >>>
> >> I understand health issues quite well. My point is that all too often
> >> people focus on the item they are least likely to become infected by and
> >> forget the more subtle ones. As an example, on my last trip to Thailand
> >> in 2001, I visited the family farm in Ayuttaya. I took a look inside the
> >> water tanks, something you should always do. I had been drinking from
> >> the local rainwater tanks on previous trips but this time the tanks had
> >> mosquitoes in them, Not a good sign. The people were getting old I guess
> >> and didn't maintain the tanks as well as they should have been. Anyway,
> >> on seeing the mosquitoes, I determined then and there that I would only
> >> drink bottled water for the duration. I was brought undone by my brother
> >> in law who topped up my water bottle from the tank... it didn't affect
> >> them as they were immune. I partook of but a sip before I realized that
> >> the water tasted strange. That tiny sip was enough. Within 2 hours the
> >> fever had begun and I was pretty much stuffed for the next two weeks of
> >> my time in Thailand. Unfortunately that episode left me with some rather
> >> long term consequences. On my return to work I lasted about 2 or 3 weeks
> >> before it became acutely apparent that I wasn't recovered. I spent 6
> >> months on sick leave, another 18 months on provisional retirement, then
> >> permanent retirement since. I have only just begun to make reasonable
> >> progress back to good health in the past 2 or 3 years but I am still not
> >> back to where I was nor am I likely to be again.
> >>
> >> All for the sake of a sip of water.
> >>
> >> For the record, everyone else drank that water, including my wife, but
> >> they had no issues - immunity developed over their lifetimes being the
> >> key.
> >>
> >
> > Sorry to hear this - that's one shitty deal. What did you get infected
> > with?
>
> The doctors at the hospital I ended up in had no idea. By the time I got
> there, the nasty had wreaked its havoc and moved on leaving me quite
> debilitated. All they told me was that, given the symptoms, it was most
> likely a virus. I suspect it might have been a form of Dengue though
> they hang around for quite some time in an active state. A friend of
> mine got infected with that when he was working offshore in Indonesia.
> He ended up in Jakarta, then Singapore and they eventually medivacced
> him to Fairfield Infectious Diseases Hospital in Melbourne. He was off
> work for up to a year from memory. He has lived permanently in Thailand
> now for the past 30 odd years so I hope he has built up an immunity in
> that time....

We had a dengue fever outbreak on this rock a few years ago. That was kind of scary. I have not heard of this disease being passed by water though.

>
> The obvious answer is to avoid contact with water that has not been
> extensively purified. I remember when I was in my sister in laws house
> in Bangkok, I remember having a shower and the water was leaving a
> burning sensation on my lips as it flowed across them. Later on I was
> discussing this with my brothers in law and one, who worked for the
> Bangkok Water Authority, told me that I didn't want to know what was
> needed to be put into the water to purify it.. ;-) Even they didn't
> drink that water!

Well okay, you got me sold!

>
> --
>
> Xeno.