Travelers may wish to join Medic Alert, a nonprofit organization that provides members with a 24-hour switchboard number a physician can call to find out information that may affect treatment, such as allergies to medication or HIV status. Your regular practitioner is not likely to know. During and After During a trip, travelers can prevent trouble by exercising caution around food and drink. Besides causing travelers diarrhea, contaminated food and drink can transmit typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, poliomyelitis, viral hepatitis A and parasitic infections that linger for years. Freshly cooked food served piping hot is safe.
Wise travelers avoid ice, and brush their teeth with bottled or boiled water.
On domestic trips, unavoidable rich business lunches may set off a bout of travelers diarrhea. Travelers who pick at their meals may have fewer problems later. Travelers who are on the road for less than a month and feel perfectly healthy the entire time need not see a doctor upon their return, says Connor. In a medical emergency, the government will arrange for and pay all expenses to transport a federal traveler to the nearest hospital for treatment. Ailing employees who decide to head home are encouraged to book a contract-fare flight.