Acute viral disease. Fever, jaundice, often haemorrhaging. You don't want to be consumed by worry, that will ruin your holiday, but so can getting ill. Doctor Ron Behrens, senior lecturer at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, says intrepid travellers should fear cars more than rare diseases such as Ebola. Infectious diseases are quite rare.
Traffic accidents lead the league table of medical problems abroad.
Being injured on foreign roads can lead to disease, says Dr Behrens. The quality of care in foreign hospitals can be quite different. Patients may be infected from contaminated blood products or instruments. The climate, environment and insect life of certain regions can also catch travellers unawares, turning minor cuts and bites into skin sepsis. With HIV affecting as many as one in five people in some countries, Britons abroad are advised to take extra precautions against the virus that leads to Aids.