Hey guys! I Know its my own fault im the way I am but i am a mega fussy eater - i only really eat fruit, veg, salad, brown bread, and rice and pasta (depending on sauce ) and chicken (yes I am mega embarrased to admit that ). Ive read lots of posts about the fact that you should avoid fruit, veg and salads while in sharm, to avoid picking up a nasty tummy bug?? Eeeek, is this true? Also - im a major ice cream addict- another thing that Ive been told to avoid? Can anybody clarify this for me as im panikin abit

luv faye

Well Fay I felt exactly the same as you last year when I went to Luxor, I didnt want to go [husband and daughters choice of holiday] and thought I would fade away as the thought of 'egyptian' food, or egyptian anything for that matter would not appeal to me. Well, was I in for a shock! This was the best holiday of my life, egyptians wonderful, food wonderful and am absolutely hooked now. Am going back this year but to Sharm, hope its as fab as Luxor and I am not disappointed. We had a nice Italian Restaurant last year which did fabbie pasta dishes, creamy sauces, pizza, something for everyone and none of us suffered any tummy upsets [apart from hubbie but that was overindulgence on the Nile cruise!!]. I did avoid fruit, salads, , and only bought stuff from the hotel shop. The hotel had the most fantastic icecream fridge which sold the best icecream I ever tasted, the mandarin one was yum!! We did stop at the roadside when coming back from Aswaan where they were selling water and coke... all out of date or seals broken on water bottles so be careful there. Dont bother with immodium for your first aid bag... it wont work over there but plenty of good chemists around and sell great potions apparently. Have a great holiday... I go five weeks today.

fayeg.

Ooo i never knew you had to be careful about the icecream. our children had loads and didn't catch anything.

there really is a hugh choice of restaurants in sharm so i'm sure you'll find something you like.

medot.xx

On someones advice, it mustnt have been on this forum - have just been checking out, I have bought Senekot today to take with us... apparently its better to get everything 'out'... Got some rehydration stuff we bought 'just in case' last year when in Luxor - just need an interpreter if we need to use it [instructions in arabic], but they are so friendly and obliging over there I don't think we shall have any worries with that one!!

we have just returned from Luxor and we had a slight dose of the Egyptian belly but as mentioned in other messages the local pharmacy will sell you very efective medication.

In my case it only lasted half a day, and the best advice we were given is that most of the stomach upsets do not come from the food but from handling money etc,
So to avoid this whenever you get a chance wash your hands !!

It may seem a bit obvious but it worked !

I dont think there is any way of avoiding these things as we had bought especially some hand wash that you put on after washing your hands to kill any bugs etc that the hospitals normally use and we still came down with the Egyption belly

Soap and hot water is still the best way to clean your hands (and before anyone says anything, yes, I know it's not always available) - if you look on the bottles of alcohol gel it probably says something like "...apply to clean, dry hands". Rub it in throughly (ie till your hands are dry) especially if you are a smoker!

If anyone has an Avon rep or access to an avon catalogue their antibac hand cleanser is tried and trusted! I had a 'communal' tube last year which was passed round the table one we had handled money!!!

More will go in my report but taking ages to write, so for now i will say be very careful what you eat, we had the tummy cramps and runs from day 2 of the hols, went to a reputable pharmacy who said do not drink or eat the following.

1. Any milk, not to have it at all in tea/coffee etc, cereals, or anything laced with milk, omlettes, yogurts, omli etc, it isnt pasteurised and has bacteria in it.

2. Dont drink the water or brush your teeth in it.

3. Salads are washed (what we were told in tap water) but saying this, the restaurant said in Egypt now, all taps had to have filters on, i doubt this, or if this is true, we tried salads on the last 2 days of our hols and had cramps again.

4. Avoid alcohol - dehydrates you, you need to drink at least 10 litres a day.

5. Ice in drinks.

6. RICE, if its been warmed up, you will get food poisioning/e coli ... avoid if you can.

7. Fruit which has been peeled and washed.

Derwentrocker - where were you staying again - were others in the hotel affected too? I do take all these precautions normally, excluding number 4 though - but I shall be good and have an alchoholic drink WITHOUT ice!! I think I shall take a jar of coffee mate with me this year, I can live without milk except for my coffee.

"
1. Any milk, not to have it at all in tea/coffee etc, cereals, or anything laced with milk, omlettes, yogurts, omli etc, it isnt pasteurised and has bacteria in it.

2. Dont drink the water or brush your teeth in it.

3. Salads are washed (what we were told in tap water) but saying this, the restaurant said in Egypt now, all taps had to have filters on, i doubt this, or if this is true, we tried salads on the last 2 days of our hols and had cramps again.

4. Avoid alcohol - dehydrates you, you need to drink at least 10 litres a day.

5. Ice in drinks.

6. RICE, if its been warmed up, you will get food poisioning/e coli ... avoid if you can.

7. Fruit which has been peeled and washed. "

1. Milk would be fine in anything that takes it to the temperature of pasteurisation - i.e. 72 oC - therefore omelettes/tea etc are fine.

2. Agree with not drinking the water - brushing your teeth in it is fine imo...the predominant 'contaminant' in the water over there is the mineral content which is very different to ours, hence causing tummy probs.

3. Agree with the salads part - although our hotel insisted that the water they had was ok - it may have been treated in the hotel's own water treatment plant - I ate salad often and never had probs...

4. LOL. But true.

5. Depends on the source of the water - some bars insist that they use bottled water to make ice.

6. Rice is dodgy - but its a bacteria called Bacillus Cereus that causes illness...if the rice has been stored properly after pre-cooking and reheated to the required temperature, it will be fine. Whether or not they do that in Egypt is very much open to question.

7. Same idea as the ice point.

Most of what you've said is however useful, but its not a good idea to think you cant eat vitually anything...most tummy upsets abroad are not caused by foods, its heat exposure and a number of other environmental factors. People always seem to blame food they consumed the day before they get ill - the case normally is nearer to 5 days after - dependant on the causitive pathogen - hence the reason its difficult for me in my job to ID what caused folks food poisoning - even with laboratory confirmation.[/i][/i]

I must stress it was the pharmacy that told us not to drink the milk, not just in Egypt, but in any place abroad, eg, Cyprus, Spain etc.

I know where were got ill and that is HR Cafe, because we ate there twice, and both times within 24 hours got the little trotties and stomach cramps.

Heat is also true and a main factor, but we had fab medicine and it worked straight away

The milk can be a factor if its not been boiled. I know all of the hotels etc. that i have been in Egypt, all boil the milk which is fine, if you only have it in your coffee/tea...but i hate milk thats not chilled on cereals and stuff yuck so i never have milk except in my coffee, and i have been fine.

Derwentrocker:

I must say, I think the Pharmacist is a scaremongerer...pretty sure they pasteurise milk in the majority of countries, but it is law in the EU - therefore it is safe.

Weird you got the trots from the HRC - found the food to be fine in there and we ate there twice also - no probs.

Like I mentioned in my other reply, the symptoms of food poisoning can take several days to appear after you've eaten the food in question.

Sorry if I'm repeating what anyone else has already said, but reckon I can help on this one.

The main cause of tummy upsets on hot holidays to any country is bowel spasm, not water, swimming or anything else. British guts are not used to extremely hot temperatures, and certainly not used to any sudden changes in temperature. Therefore when we are exposing ourselves to any really high temperatures, and we suddenly go cold, everything contracts.

So, best ways to avoid problems. Firstly, avoid ice in your drinks. This is nothing related to the water. But you are adding something very cold to a hot gut, this will make it contract and cause diarrhoea. Chilled drinks are fine as the temps are not so extreme, but just go without the ice.

Secondly its best not to have air conditioning on too high. I never put mine below 20. If you do insist on having it really cold, reduce it gradually by a degree at a time.

Obviously hand hygiene and all that are important. But lets be honest, the majority of Brits don't wash their hands or anything after going to the loo or before eating, and a hotel toilet will probably be as clean as the one at home, so this is not necessarily going to cause any more bugs than not washing your hands at home. I'm not saying you shouldn't wash your hands in Egypt, just wash your hands any time!!!!

Obviously you still have to take care on holiday. You shouldn't drink the water etc etc, but there are also more simple measures as I've suggested. I eat salads, unpeeled fruits etc etc with no problems in egypt and have never had a bug.

Hi Cnorris,

Interesting theory on the heat/cold thing. I always take ice in my drinks, even in the rose wine in Egypt as I love it that way. What I cant understand is why , this past fortnight, I have had intermittent tummy cramps, when I don't normally have any problems. My wife, who drinks the same drinks as me, was perfectly fine but she normally suffers from a dicky tum on holiday. Interesting to note that you are a nurse, lets hope that Mooby (bless him) doesn't disagree with your theory
I am really just joking Mooby!

I really do agree about the A/C. We try not to have ours on when we go to sleep. First one up in the morning turns it on. If we leave it on at night my throat feels awful in the morning!

My final comment is to take issue with you over "the majority of Brits don't wash their hands or anything after going to the toilet" I'm sure that I am not in the minority regarding this and would not dream of not washing. In case the kids have forgotten, we always make them use antibac wipes before eating. I would also bet that no hotel toilet, be it 5* or not is as clean as our's are at home.

Regards,

Roger.

I knew that one about hand-washing would cause some upset. I'm not directing it at anyone in particular, but from my experiences peoples hand washing is appauling. I'm something of an obsessive hand-washer, and do have a tendency to nose at other people. Patients on the ward who come in with food poisining are usually the worst I have to say. But I was stunned at Gatwick when we went away a few weeks ago. I saw about 10 people (sadly including Air Stewardesses) leaving without washing their hands, just in the time it took me to wash mine. Same goes for hotel toilets I used.

I'm not saying that this doesn't contribute to bugs, as I'm sure it does, but I think people need to learn in general to wash their hands, and to wash them properly.

cnorris made a very fine point - I also agree with her comments on hand-washing - even nurses - you'll know the survey I'm talking about cnorris.
You also pointed out that folk who contract gastic disease are poor hand-washers - tis funny that the very same people are incredibly fast to point to 'that take-away I had last night' as the presumptive cause! (I'm an EHO by the way)

Carrot - thanks for the mention - given my profession is more geared to investigative/preventative measure taken against food poisoning (amongst other things), I'm sure you'll agree I'm qualified to offer advice on this matter. (I will say however, I didnt really appreciate your pedantic tone.)

Mooby,

You should have been in Nuweiba last week, perhaps you would understand my sense of humour? Lighten up!

Your contributions to this forum on health related subjects have been very much appreciated by all of us. It is only by discussion that we learn the truth!