Toxic Travel

How to avoid bringing home surprising souvenirs.

Getting away for a much needed vacation is the highlight of many people’s summer, but unwittingly being exposed to toxic invaders can leave you with a ruined trip and a problem that follows you home. You’re not a party pooper if you take precautions—you’re a smart traveler. Check out some of these ways to safeguard your long-term health by avoiding pathogens away from home.

Don’t share your phone. A microbiologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson found that 50 percent of the cell phones he examined tested positive for MRSA. Don’t lend yours out, and don’t borrow anyone else’s.

Check for creepy crawlers. Immediately after walking into your hotel room, check for “bed bugs” in your mattress. Signs include blood stains, a nauseatingly sweet or usual aroma, or even a black trail of stains, which is usually a sign of left behind fecal matter. If your mattress even hints of any of these, ask for a different room immediately and repeat the process.

Disinfect your hotel room. Have you seen those scary reports of what really lurks on the hotel bedspreads? Well, every surface of a hotel room is the same—phone receivers, TV remotes, temperature dials, door handles, the bathroom counters, you name it. Make it a habit to walk through and wipe down every surface you might touch with antiseptic wipes, repeating several times during the duration of your stay. And never use the glasses on the sink—reports have found that even at upscale hotels those glasses are rarely ever cleaned, let alone sanitized, between guests.

Use your own pen. When you’re at the bank or in the checkout line, you may be tempted to use the pen provided. Don’t—it may be teeming with bacteria. Make a habit of using your own pen in all such public signings.

Keep your nails short and trim often. Superbugs have been found to hide under long fingernails—don’t give them a place to take up residence.

Step away from a flushing toilet. The spray from a toilet flush can splatter residue of superbugs like E. coli. Get away from the toilet as quickly as possible once your press the handle to flush.

Wash children’s hands when leaving a petting zoo. Otherwise, they can pick up parasites and infections. Also, if you have a baby or toddler, keep pacifiers tucked away in a sealed plastic bag while in the park and keep close watch to prevent any fingers from finding their way into mouths before you can find your way to a sink.

Apply hand gel, early and often. A few small travel-size bottles of antiseptic hand gel, stashed in your coat pocket, purse, or gym bag will keep them handy for you throughout the day. Whether it’s using a handrail to board a bus, sliding your hand on a banister, punching sticky buttons in an elevator, exchanging money at the newsstand—you name it, you have countless reasons to apply the hand gel daily. Get the moisturizing kind so you don’t dry out your hands with repeated applications. Look for natural antibiotic hand gels that are made with essential oils, like tea tree, as opposed to alcohol.

Just in case. You can really put your mind and body at ease by being proactive and using My Colon Cleansing Kit. This thirty-day program provides advanced, safe, and gentle colon cleansing, while targeting accumulated waste, microorganisms, and toxins you may encounter in your travels. It includes three time-tested and unique herbal products designed to help eliminate parasites while recolonizing your system with friendly probiotics to promote a clean colon that’s inhospitable to pathogenic organisms. It includes Para-Key, Verma-Plus, and Flora-Key. I would begin the program at least 5 days before your designated trip and continue throughout, or at least begin when you return home for a grand total of thirty days. If you still have unresolved symptoms from minor to major GI distress, diarrhea, constipation, and/or allergies, cough, wheezing, and increased mucus then you may want to consider completing another course of treatment. By the way, you should not use this kit during pregnancy or while nursing.

I have literally counseled hundreds of people who have never been “quite right” after a vacation to an exotic locale, the islands, the mountains, or a camp out. Don’t let a fun-filled getaway turn into a microscopic nightmare. Implement these tips—as well as general hygiene and hand washing—for stress-free fun in the sun.

-Edge On Health, Dr. Ann Louise Gittleman