Delhi Belly & Me!

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Delhi belly & me Some things I've come to expect when travelling, it's just part of the adventure when you leave your front door to step on that plane, occasionally a bag might get delayed, it might even get lost completely, flights get delayed, flight food is not great, bugs bite, sunburn, an upset tummy from the change of environment, when I say an upset tummy I mean a little off. It's no big deal right? poop happens! Well I'm here to tell you it is a big deal, welcome to our blog Delhi Belly & me. Our blog as Delhi Belly and me are still travelling together, in-fact this is my fourth day (I've only arrived here on Saturday and by the Tuesday I had the poops but no big deal right? Wrong!) By Tuesday my husband Chris who has also been suffering with the poops calls the doctor at 3am, after I have been up all day and night throwing up, pooping, hot sweats, cold shakes, headache, when your pooping and throwing up at the same time literally I can assure you it's not fun! For anyone. Twenty minutes later a very nice lady doctor arrives asking why I'd not had medical attention before now, you need antibiotics it's food poisoning, gave me an injection to stop the sickness and cramps (very scary, I'm not keen on injections at the best of time, let alone in India, I had no option but to agree after asking Chris to check the packaging is sealed and in date, no panic of course :-s) She gave me rehydration salts & two other medicines and said to call if we needed her again, again I'm thinking, I was rather hoping not :-s lol, that I should start to feel better in five days, I've five days worth of medicine and I can eat fruit & yoghurt and toast, no animal products. Which is fine with me as I'm not sure I'm going to ever eat again lol. Figures state around 30% of travellers to warmer places will experience traveller’s diarrhea, more affectionately known in my case as "Delhi Belly" I know what your thinking, why does this happen? (I can also hear you laughing! ) ;-)Well I have one word for this and it's "Poverty" and where there is poverty, there is generally poor hygiene and sanitation, meaning the food and water could be contaminated. Our hotel is certainly less of a risk and a lot more safe than the street stalls you are advised to stay away from, we have been very careful, had a couple of very nice meals in our hotel and a nice lunch at a recommended restaurant one afternoon, then I couldn't eat a thing, just wasn't hungry. The problem you see is you can take all the precautions you can but you are only as safe as the last person to handle your food or the last fly to land on it! Or the last rodent to run across the top of your water bottle ( which I have been sanitising before drinking from). Whilst its still best practice to be careful I do feel like I'm playing Russian roulette a little. I've backed packed through some remote places and been fine yet I'm only here a few days & bang! If I believed in luck I'd be saying unlucky. Here are some facts for you Malnutrition42% of India’s children below the age of three are malnourished, almost twice the statistics of sub-Saharan African region of 28%World Bank estimates this figure to be 60 million children out of a global estimated total of 146 million.Although India’s economy grew 50% from 2001–2006, its child-malnutrition rate only dropped 1%, lagging behind countries of similar growth rate.Malnutrition impedes the social and cognitive development of a child, reducing his educational attainment and income as an adult.These irreversible damages result in lower productivity. High infant mortality rateApproximately 1.72 million children die each year before turning one.The under five mortality rate and infant mortality rate indicators have been declining, from 202 and 190 deaths per thousand live births respectively in 1970 to 64 and 50 deaths per thousand live births in 2009.However, this rate of decline is slowing. Reduced funding for immunization leaves only 43.5% of the young fully immunised. Infrastructures like hospitals, roads, water and sanitation are lacking in rural areas. Shortages of healthcare providers, poor intra-partum and newborn care, diarrheal diseases and acute respiratory infections, also contribute to the high infant mortality rate. DiseasesDiseases such as dengue fever, hepatitis, tuberculosis, malaria and pneumonia continue to plague India due to increased resistance to drugs. And in 2011, India finally developed a Totally drug-resistant form of tuberculosis. India is ranked 3rd among the countries with the most number of HIV-infected. Diarrheal diseases are the primary causes of early childhood mortality.These diseases can be attributed to poor sanitation and inadequate safe drinking water in India.However in 2012, India was polio free for the first time in its history. Poor sanitationAs more than 122 million households have no toilets and 33% lack access to latrines, over 50% of the population (638 million) defecates in the open. This is relatively higher than Bangladesh and Brazil (7%) and China (4%).Although 211 million people gained access to improved sanitation from 1990–2008, only 31% uses them. 11% of the Indian rural families dispose of child stools safely whereas 80% of the population leave their stools in the open or throw them into the garbage. Open air defecation leads to the spreading of diseases and malnutrition through parasitic and bacterial infections. Inadequate safe drinking waterAccess to protected sources of drinking water has improved from 68% of the population in 1990 to 88% in 2008.nHowever, only 26% of the slum population has access to safe drinking water and 25% of the total population has drinking water on their premises.This problem is exacerbated by falling levels of groundwater, caused mainly by increasing extraction for irrigation. Insufficient maintenance of the environment around water sources, groundwater pollution, excessive arsenic and fluoride in drinking water pose a major threat to India's health. Rural healthRural India contains over 68% of India's total population with half of it living below poverty line, struggling for better and easy access to health care and services.mHealth issues confronted by the rural people are diverse and many - from severe malaria to uncontrolled diabetes, from a badly infected wound to cancer. Rural medical practitioners are highly sought after by people living in rural India as they more financially affordable and geographically accessible than practitioners working in the formal public health care sector. Interesting facts I thought ..... The majority of cases of traveller’s diarrhea are due to bacterial infections, with E. coli accounting for the majority which usually causes a mild case of the poops and get better in a few days, with or without treatment. What I am suffering with is much worse, and was likely caused by some sort of bacteria but without samples we will not know which one & samples are not routinely taken here in India we were told. Whist not the most enjoyable or comfortable moment of my travelling experience through the years, I am sure it will certainly be one of the most memorable and a birthday for Chris to remember for years to come, it was his birthday the morning we called the doctor out and we had to cancel the evening celebrations, so we will celebrate in the weeks ahead. I don't think I'm obsessed when it comes to hygiene when travelling but I do use common sense and some caution, as well as some preparedness. 'Boil it, bottle it, peel it, cook it hot hot hot or not! forget it' as I was once told still makes a heck of a lot of sense. Let me give you a few tips..... Can I shower in the local water – yes, just keep your mouth shut and I would say eyes too, I'm taking no risks, oh & no snorting it up the nose lol Are the ice cubes ok -no no no no not worth the risk! Most likely made with tap water not bottled water, unless you want to play a game of Russian roulette remember If I eat all the local food and drink the local water at the beginning of my trip, will I become immune – I doubt it, I read that it takes an averages of seven months to build up an immunity, how true this is I have no idea but who has the energy to keep getting sick, I'm not counting on it. Remember not all diarrhea is infectious so no need to panic. Too much sun, hangovers, fresh fruit you're not used to and lack of sleep can all contribute to the poops and if it's bacterial or viral I am sure you will know about as I did. My top tip if I were to give one would be to drink plenty of bottled water, check it is sealed and sanitise the top before drinking from it and by plenty I mean plenty, dehydration sets in quickly and as the majority of us do not drink enough water to begin with remember you are already dehydrated the minutes you land in your destination! Water water water ..... Chris is sensible when travelling and some people can break all the rules and be fine, he says I'm quite anal (excuse the pun) which is quite annoying when I still get sick! Oh the joys of travelling. I wouldn't change a thing apart from wishing I'd not got the bug of course, the magic, mystery & adventure of travel is far too great to miss because of the fear of Delhi belly, I will just shed some weight ;-) lol oh and have the best time once I can leave the loo for a few hours :-) Our hotel have been amazing, they called to check on us and sent us flowers and a get well card and a birthday card for Chris and we received flowers from Chris's colleague, they really can't do enough for us. The service is the nuts :-) I'm going to rebook my visits once i'm feeling better and Chris is better & back to work, I've still so much to see & do, very thankful we're here for so long. Have an awesome day peeps and keep smiling :-)

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