Odds of Getting Sick while travelling in India

Everyone will warn you about getting sick in India… You’ve all heard the story about someone’s friend who caught a bug while backpacking through India that got misdiagnosed and said friend has wound up dead. There are some cardinal rules that you just don’t break while traveling in India…

• Always drink bottled water and make sure you open the bottle yourself (and sneak a peek at the seal… we’ve all seen slumdog millionaire)
• Avoid ice like the plague, even if you’d kill someone for a cool drink (refrigerated drinks in India are barely cold at best)
• Only eat piping hot food (rationale being the germs have been zapped)
• You can eat fruits as long as you wash and cut them yourself
• Wash hands after touching money, other people, things … heck douse yourself in Purell regularly
• Take malaria tablets and insect repellents
• Check for bed bugs before booking a room
• People will invariably offer you food as you travel. Learn to politely refuse lest you get the Delhi Belly.
• Resort to drinking coconut water in a pinch when bottled or RO filtered water isn't available

I’m sure I covered the basics up there that get repeated the most. You follow them to the T and yet, you know it when the place beats you. You start feeling tired sooner… you sweat more. At first you attribute it to the weather and the insane travel schedule. And then the tummy rumblings stop being just that and you look for restroom signs more than the fire exits. And if it stops there, you’re lucky. Some will get a fever that just goes away in a couple of days. But there will be the unlucky few who end up needing to be hospitalized from something benign like dehydration to things like food poisoning, typhus, dengue fever and lymes disease. Of course this does not negate the fact that after an extended stay in India, your TB skin test might come back positive as tuberculosis is so common in India.

Another factor no one talks about is the sudden climate change. Its been hot for weeks. Monsoons hit recently, bringing the much needed rain with them and the weather changed in an instant. The dry hot air has been replaced with cool moist air and everyone started falling sick. I am currently under the spell of a light fever with lingering body aches and I am actually used to India.

Not to scare you or anything, but being prepared never hurts. Listen to the well meaning advice with a grain of salt. For it does appear that sickness in India hits folks randomly. Rarely ever is the whole group hit. Some folks just draw the shorter straw and it’s OK to be that person. Healthcare is super cheap in India and is excellent, if you don’t mind the slight wait times. Just give your itinerary some space for the unexpected. After all, Indians don’t do anything in a rushed manner, let alone travel that way and you will enjoy India way more, I promise.