When travelling from the UK to developing or tropical countries there are certain things in those countries you may not be immune to so need to be protected against before going to that country. There are many different illnesses you can pick up from various countries some of these diseases you need to be aware of when travelling includes:

• Cholera – This is a disease that is water borne and some of the symptoms include chronic diarrhoea and often extremely bad muscle cramps in the stomach. There are certain people that are most susceptible to the disease and this is determined by their blood type for example those with O type blood are most likely to contract the disease where as those with blood type AB are the most resilient.
• Diphtheria – This is fairly common in many countries so ensuring you’re protected against it is of paramount importance if the area you are going to is known for a high rate of the disease. Symptoms of the disease include fever, sore throat and fatigue, however, the disease affects children differently and so symptoms in a child’s case include high fever, chills and vomiting. As the disease progresses it usually causes swelling of the infected person’s throat. It is caught through direct contact with an infected person or breathing in an infected person’s air directly.
• Hepatitis A – This is normally contracted through contaminated food or water and because it is also present in faeces it is important to be more careful in an environment that is poorly sanitised such as a dirty public toilet. So because of this as well as the vaccination you will be asked to make sure you wash your hands thoroughly after using a toilet and also being careful with the food you are eating, being sure it was prepared in a clean area. Symptoms include nausea, stomach cramps, dark urine and jaundice; this is because it affects the liver so a good way of determining whether some one has the disease is by checking their eyes for a yellow tinge.
• Typhoid – This is a recommended vaccination for all places you could be vaccinating apart from Northern Europe, Australia and New Zealand, North America. It is passed through infected water this could be because the water is contaminated with faeces or has been in contact with an infected person such as them washing their hands after using the toilet. Symptoms include extremely high temperature, pains in the stomach and headaches this all accompanied usually by feeling weak.