Avoiding Disease from Food & Water - Swan Tours

There is a common saying in India: If you can cook it, boil it or peel it, you can eat it; otherwise forget it. This principle is relatively true, though it doesn't quite cover everything.

Always wash your hands before and after eating, and especially after using the toilet. The most common

diseases you are likely to pick up in India, especially Travelers; Diarrhea (gastroenteritis, a.k.a. TD or Delhi Belly), are transmitted by poor hygiene, so washing your hands thoroughly—preferably with hot water and soap—will go a long way towards keeping you and those around you healthy. Since water for washing your hands is not always available when you are traveling, always carry some waterless hand cleanser, which you can bring from home or get in India.

Wash Your Hand - After Eat or Before Eat

The other suggestions made by a travel counselor at Swan Tours ,who are one of the best travel agents in India are as below :

Drink only pure water. Contaminated water is probably the single most common source of disease in India for Westerners.TD and many more serious diseases can be caused by viruses, bacteria, or parasites, all of which can contaminate food or water. To ensure that you always have safe water, you need to plan ahead and pay attention. Purifying your own water is safer and more environmentally friendly than using bottled water.

Don;t drink unpurified tap water; it;s simply not worth the risk. Many Indians won't drink the tap water (or eat street food, either, for that matter), so you don't have to feel foolish about it. Ice is almost always made from unpurified tap water, and freezing doesn't kill the germs, so avoid ice unless you know it is made from pure water.

Any time that you are offered water from a communal cup or bottle, or if you are eating at a dhabba or other simple local restaurant, take care not to touch the cup or bottle to your lips. Indians never do because it would then be contaminated and unfit for others. In such places, cups aren't washed well, anyway—often just a rinse with cold water and nothing else. Learning to drink from a bottle in the Indian style will earn you brownie points for cultural awareness. You might want to practice in private to get the hang of it, though, so you can do it without spilling it all over yourself.

Even if you use bottled water for drinking, keep a small port-able filter or some colloidal silver, iodine, or any other means to purify drinking water with you in case of emergency. It;s safest to use purified water for brushing your teeth, as well.

Bottled water is not as safe as you might think since the reliability varies widely from brand to brand, and sometimes people refill the bottles with tap water and try to pass them off as the real thing (especially in budget hotels and restaurants, but sometimes in shops and other places, too). Apart from that, bottled water is commonly exposed to the sun and high temperatures, either of which cause certain toxins in the plastic to leach into the water, and these are very bad for your health. It;s safer all around to take responsibility for your own drinking water by boiling it or purifying it by some other means. Not using bottled water at all not only much better for you and for the environment. It;s also much cheaper.

Water Bottle

A few years ago, there was a big scandal about the impurity many Indian brands as well as some of the international brands (including the popular brands Bisleri, Kinley and Aquaplus, which turned out to be among the worst at that time). Even though they may be safe as far as microorganisms are concerned—though that&;s not always the case—tests found that many were contaminated with pesticides up to 104 times the levels considered acceptable by European standards.

If you do drink bottled water, never accept a bottle that has already been opened. Before opening a bottle, always test the seal and check for anything floating inside. Send it back if there is a problem. Boiling your water is the safest way to ensure that it is free of bacteria, viruses, amoebas, etc. However, water should be boiled for at least 10 minutes, and you have to make sure it really boils. At higher altitudes, boiling takes longer (add 5 minutes at 2,000 meters, and more as the altitude increases). Once the water has boiled, let it cool to room temperature. You can add a small pinch of salt or pour the water back and forth between one container and another a few times to improve the taste.

The problem is that boiling water is not always practical. However, there are other means to ensure safe drinking water. Of the various types of water purifiers on the market, there are several that can render water virtually as safe as boiling it. If you are living in one place, you should get one for your kitchen. Properly purified water is safer and cheaper than bottled water. You can buy good home water purifiers in India, but make sure that you get one that provides maximum protection.

If you use a water purifier, be sure to check that it removes all the microorganisms that could make you sick. There are several brands that remove all bacteria, amoebas, parasites and giardia. The Center for Disease Control has an excellent guide to buying water filters for preventing cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis, which are two of the most common diseases that you can get from impure water. REI also has a good chart that compares various portable filters. Many filters that remove parasites may not be able to kill or remove smaller organisms such as bacteria and viruses. Portable purifiers that use ultraviolet light (such as the SteriPEN, which I highly recommend) do an excellent job of killing microorganisms, although they don;t remove pesticides or other contaminants from the water. Nevertheless, they are particular useful because they are so easy to use and carry.

Chemical disinfection with iodine is an alternative method of water treatment, but chemically treated water should not be used over the long term, and it shouldn't be used at all by pregnant women or people with thyroid problems. Also, because its efficacy varies greatly with the temperature, pH, and organic content of the water to be purified, it;s not as reliable as many other means. Colloidal silver is a natural antibiotic that can also be used to disinfect water. Check with the manufacturer to make sure how much you need, how long to let the water stand, etc. Grapefruit seed extract is another natural antibiotic, but it tastes terrible. I sometimes use it for disinfecting fruit and salad greens, and it works well for that purpose, but it wouldn;t be a top choice for anything else.

It is recommended to brush your teeth with purified water, especially when you first arrive, as well as in places where the water is known to be contaminated. If you use tap water, take care not to swallow any. Some cities have a water purification system, and the water may be chlorinated, but you can't completely rely on it. Chlorination doesn;t always kill giardia, even a single cyst of which is enough to  make you sick. It;s good to change or sterilize your toothbrush fairly often. When bathing, also take care not to swallow the water. If you have small children with you, you need to be extremely careful. Ganges water is said to be self-purifying due to some microorganisms in it that remove impurities if it sits for some time, and you do see people drinking it, but the river is dangerously polluted. If you want to drink Ganges water, either purify it bottled Ganges water. first or buy bottled Ganges Water.

The luxury tours in India managed by Swan Tours keep a check on all the basic hygiene and safety aspects during the travel .

International travel agents in Delhi