TRAVELER’S HEALTH IN TIMOR-LESTE
Take normal travel precautions when eating food and drinking. Timor-Leste tap water is not safe to drink unless boiled or chemically treated. Bottled water is readily available. In some places, fresh water is limited so please use it sparingly. There are relatively high rates of malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever and parasitic illnesses in Timor-Leste.
It is a good idea to make sure you are up to date with shots and are prepared for both travel-related and serious sicknesses. Diseases for which appropriate precautionary measures are recommended include dengue fever, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and Japanese encephalitis. There is a risk of mosquito borne diseases including dengue and to a much lesser extent malaria, especially in the wet season. It is recommended you apply insect repellent and cover up at all times of the day and evening.
Before visiting Timor-Leste consult your doctor, or travel clinic, regarding vaccinations needed and do bring a good medical kit, as health services are limited, especially in the districts. It is important to take out comprehensive health insurance that covers all your intended activities (e.g. diving, mountain biking) and provides for evacuation if needed.
Comprehensive travel insurance highly recommended. Make sure you covered by your health insurance policy or have supplemental travel insurance with god medical coverage. You should take enough medication to cover your stay and carry it in your hand baggage. Not all prescribed drugs are available in Timor-Leste. Some over-the-counter medications need a prescription. Make sure you have accessible funds to cover the cost of any medical treatment abroad and that your travel insurance also covers costs for medical repatriation.
Inoculations and Health Entry Issues for Timor-Leste
No vaccinations are required unless you entering Timor-Leste from a country infected with yellow fever (usually in tropical Africa or South America) and then you need a yellow fever vaccination and documentation of it. It is a good idea to make sure you are up to date with your typhus, diphtheria and tetanus inoculations.
Try to get the new inoculations for food- and water-borne hepatitis A and blood-carried hepatitis B. The hepatitis B vaccination is worthwhile in case you have an accident and need blood transfusions. It may be worthwhile to get a vaccination for Japanese encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease that is very rare but found in Timor-Leste. The U.S. Department of State is unaware of any HIV/AIDS entry restrictions for visitors to Timor-Leste.
At least eight weeks before your trip, check the latest country-specific health advice from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States and National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) on the TravelHealthPro website in Britain. Traveler doctors can tell you what shots and medications you need for specific countries. For information about travelers inoculations inquire first at your county, community or city clinic, or local university. Shots from these sources are generally much cheaper than those given at a hospital or from a private doctor. With inoculations, plan ahead. Some immunization require a series of shots that require more than a month to complete.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Information on vaccinations and other health precautions, such as safe food and water precautions and insect bite protection, may be obtained from the Centers for Disease Control at https: //wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel. For information about outbreaks of infectious diseases abroad consult the World Health Organization's (WHO) web site at http: //www.who.int/en. Further health information for travelers is available at http: //www.who.int/ith.
1) Looking for travel health information for a particular area of the world? Please refer to Traveler's Health Destination Information. 2) Looking for a yellow fever vaccine clinic? Visit our national registry of official yellow fever vaccine providers. 3) Because Travel Medicine is a complex field, we advise consulting a travel medicine specialist or health-care provider 4–6 weeks before international travel to allow time for maximum benefit before you depart. Even if your trip is last minute, there is still benefit in consulting a travel medicine specialist.
4) See the Travel Medicine Clinics page for links to directories of private travel clinics and state health department websites (many state and county health departments also provide travel immunizations). Health-care providers can contact their state epidemiologist or local health department on the page of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
For questions about travel, or comments, questions, or suggestions regarding our website, please contact CDC-INFO at: 1-800-CDC-INFO (1-800-232-4636), 1-888-232-6348 (TTY). Website: cdcinfo@cdc.gov
Food, Water and Diarrhea Issues in Singapore
Tap water is not safe to drink. Boil it or treat it before consuming. It is a good idea to drink bottled water and use it to brush your teeth. Also, be cautious about bottled water. Make sure the cap is sealed shut and buy the water at places regarded as trustworthy. In other words, don't buy it on the streets or in kiosks.
Some visitors have stomach- and bowel-related problems. To avoid this from happening use common sense. Avoid salads, ice, street food, sea food, and uncooked food. Never eat anything raw. Peel vegetables and fruit. Make sure meals are hot and recently prepared, preferably right in front of you. Don't eat anything that looks questionable or looks as if it had been sitting around for a while.
Keep your hands clean by washing with soap or a liquid sanitizer like Purell. Many people worried about hygiene bring their own chopsticks or carry swabs and packets of alcohol to wipe off chopsticks and rims of glasses in restaurant. Make sure you are inoculated against hepatitis A. Some people bring their own syringes.
If you are going into the rain forest be prepared to clean water with purification tablets or a filtration system. In regard to water purification tablets, iodine kills bacteria, dysentery amebas and giardia parasites. It is safe for short term. Long term use is dangerous to pregnant women and people who have thyroid problems. Chlorine kills amebas and giardia. Water filtration systems often don't remove all pathogens. Boiled water is safest. A heating coil is useful for heating water.
Travelers Diarrhea is something travelers sometimes get in Timor-Leste get but less than in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. If the diarrhea is accompanied by sulphur tasting burps it probably means you have giardia. The best remedy for any kind of diarrhea problem is to flush your system by going 24 hours, or as long possible, drinking clear fluids. If the diarrhea persists you may need to take strong antibiotics. Immodium is only good for temporarily stopping you up. It is good for bus rides but once the medication wears off your diarrhea returns. If you have blood in your stool it means you may have dysentery; see a doctor immediately.
Sun and Heat Issues in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is a hot and humid country, around 25-35C and the sunshine can be very intense. If arriving from somewhere cooler, it is important to avoid dehydration by drinking plenty of water, replacing salt lost from perspiration and limiting activity in the middle of the day as you adapt to the increased temperature. Covering up is also recommended to prevent sunburn.
Sun Protection: Make sure to bring a sun screen rated "15" or above and drink plenty of water if you are traveling in hot areas. Sun glasses and protection for your lips are a "must." Hats and long sleeve shirt are also a good idea.
Heat Protection: Dehydration can be is a serious problem in hot weather. It goes without saying to bring lots of water, at least 5 liters per person a day, and have access to shade. To avoid heat exhaustion and heat stroke stay in shade as much as possible, get enough salt, replace electrolytes with fruit juices or prepared drinks that replace the salts you lose, stay out of the sun and don't do strenuous exercise after 10:00am and before 4:00pm. If you do physical activity when it is hot it is good idea to go out early, right after sunrise if you can, and take a rest or a nap in the shade in the afternoon, and continue on in the late afternoon.
Heat Exhaustion: Heat cramps are the least dangerous of the heat-related conditions. They serves as a warning that more serious things might happen. The symptoms include cramps, muscle twitching, and lightheadedness. If you have any of these symptoms immediately cool down your body with some water or shade.
Heat exhaustion is a serious condition. It is characterized by severe fatigue, headaches, confusion, nausea, weak pulse, cold clammy skin, and giddiness. Heat stroke is a very dangerous and potentially fatal condition characterized by a high body temperature and no sweating. People with heat stroke need immediate hospitalization; and should be cooled with wet towels until then.
Fungal Infections are common in hot, humid places. They include athlete’s foot, ringworm and infections in the groin, scalp and between the fingers and toes. They can be avoided by keeping as dry as possible and washing frequently and drying well afterwards. Treatment usually involves using an anti-fungal cream or powder such as tolnaftate (Tinaderm).
Prickly Heat