Yvette McQueen MD, A Global Traveling Physician

Is it Food Poisoning You had a wonderful meal or you were adventurous eating street food in a foreign country.  Now, 6-12 hours after eating you don’t feel so well.  You have an overwhelming feeling of sickness, sweating, abdominal crampy; and then …. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea.  This is your body’s way of getting rid of the contamination and bacteria [typically E. coli, Salmonella, Norovirus]. Food poisoning cannot be diagnosed unless we have a sample of the food and test it for toxins [poisons] which generally takes 3-4 days. Food poisoning or contamination is “suspected” if a person becomes sick and have certain symptoms after a certain time of eating the food. We call it Gastroenteritis.  Which means there is inflammation and possible infection of the gastrointestinal [stomach & intestines] tract in the body.  It can be brought on by irritation, virus or bacteria; and they have been ingested by contaminated fo...

ILLNESS AFTER VACATION Yvette McQueen MD, Travel Doctor If you should get sick after your travels, please see a medical provider as soon as possible.  Let them know you were recently traveling, where you traveled and if anything occurred like injury, insect bite, foods eaten, body fluid exposures, medical procedures [Medical Tourism], tattoos or piercing.  We can alter the physical examine and tests according to diseases not usually occurring; or search for unusual sources of the illness. Possible post travel symptoms include: DIARRHEA FEVER BLOOD CLOTS RASHES SUNBURN TRAVELER’S DIARRHEA:  One of the main reasons for dehydration in a traveler.  Diarrhea can be caused by eating or drinking contaminated food/water with bacteria. Your gastrointestinal system is not immune to the local bacteria therefore you develop diarrhea and can lose a large quantity of your body’s water. Many of the developing countries of the world does...