Traveler’s Diarrhoea

Symptoms of Travellers’ Diarrhoea

Travellers’ diarrhoea is defined as three or more unformed stools in a 24-hour period. Often it is accompanied by at least one of the following: fever, nausea, vomiting, cramps, or bloody stools (dysentery). Symptoms usually start during or shortly after a period of foreign travel.

The severity of Travellers’ Diarrhoea can be determined according to the degree of functional impairment it causes.

A rough guide being:

Recommendations for Travellers

Drink lots of fluids

It is important you replace lost fluids during your bout of diarrhoea to avoid dehydration. Drinking oral rehydration solution is a good way of doing this.

Take over-the-counter drugs

There are many over-the-counter drugs that can treat the symptoms of diarrhoea. These drugs decrease the frequency and urgency of needing to use the bathroom, and may make it easier for you to ride on a bus or aeroplane while waiting for an antibiotic to take effect.

Only take antibiotics if needed.

To combat antibiotic resistance please:

• Only use antibiotics when needed
• Never share antibiotics
• Always compete course as instructed
• Take unused medicine to local pharmacy, or return them to us, for disposal when expired or no longer needed