Posts in this category
At this time of year, many travelers are worried about catching a cold or the flu, but this should not distract them from focusing on the primary traveler issue: avoiding foodborne illness. Foodborne illnesses can strike at any time, putting your travel plans on...
Sitting for long periods of time while traveling, whether by airplane, train or car, can increase a traveler’s risk for developing a blood clot. Research shows that this low-activity situation and the environmental conditions of a plane increase a person’s risk...
Traveling often goes hand-in-hand with being a competitive athlete. Whether it’s a professional football player or an endurance runner, traveling before competition and, in some cases, traveling in general, can decrease athletic performance and expose the athlete to...
Physicians in practice for many years will tell you that upon hearing a diagnosis, the first question that many patients ask is: “Is it serious?” In fact, most people do not really care about what their illness is called, so long as they can expect a quick and total...
Travelers who end up with a cold after taking a flight frequently believe that the air on the plane is to blame for their sickness. According to a recent MSNBC article, however, the real culprit is fellow passengers who are already sick and spread their germs...
Travelers to remote locations with limited or no options for professional medical care often have access to the Internet and thus the ability to seek out web-based tools to diagnose conditions and recommend medical triage. Even those in the comfort of their own homes...
Head injuries on the ski slopes have decreased due to the increased use of helmets and improved equipment, and the sport could be made even safer if everyone used the equipment properly. In the 2009-10 season, a total of 25 skiers and 13 snowboarders died in a span of...
Beach season may be drawing to a close in the Northern Hemisphere, but it’s not too late to get a really nasty sunburn, especially if you’re traveling to a high-altitude area. A study conducted by the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology at the New York...
Mononucleosis—better known as “mono” or “kissing disease”—is a common viral illness that afflicts thousands of young adults each year. Although usually a benign condition, with symptoms of fever, headache, sore throat, fatigue and swollen lymph nodes—particularly in...
In today’s New York Times’ Globespotters post, Fresh, Sweet and Seasonal in Mumbai, Dan Packel tells us about the abundance of fresh fruit available in the APMC Fruit Market in Navi Mumbai. It covers a huge, 22-acre area and sounds delicious. Not to rain on Dan’s...
Earlier this month, we posted about Russia’s heavy alcohol consumption levels as a follow up to our Healthy Planet Index. It turns out that Russians may be what Alex De Jonge has called “geoalcoholics” in his book “Stalin and the Shaping of the Soviet Union.” This...