A study of Irish holidaymakers has found careless attitudes which heighten the risk of serious illness while abroad, particularly typhoid and hepatitis A.
Carried out on behalf of the Irish Society of Travel Medicine with the pharmaceutical company, SmithKline Beecham, it found that tourists were frequently "not aware of potential health risks and are not getting the recommended health vaccinations".
The study, which concentrated on risks associated with food and water-borne infection, found more than half the holiday-makers used local water or ate food which health experts advise to avoid. Some 62 per cent of those surveyed brushed their teeth with tap water; 58 per cent consumed salads or raw vegetables; 24 per cent consumed shellfish and a fifth had eaten food from a street vendor. About 44 per cent experienced some form of sickness, with stomach illnesses being the most common complaint.
The results were "very disturbing", the society's president, Dr Nancy Gallagher, said. "Many people don't realise how easy it is to contract very serious, sometimes fatal (as with typhoid), diseases through contaminated food and water." Brushing teeth with tap water; eating local shellfish or a raw salad could be enough to contract hepatitis A, she added.
While 93 per cent of those surveyed regarded immunisations as important when travelling to an "at risk" destination, only 43 per cent said they would invest in travel vaccinations. In contrast, 66 per cent said they always bought travel insurance.
Only 5 per cent of those travelling to popular destinations such as Turkey, Tunisia, Mexico and Egypt had considered vaccinations, despite medical advice suggesting vaccination for hepatitis A, typhoid, polio and tetanus.
Vaccinations (six weeks before departure) are recommended outside Western Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
