 |
|
Safe sex while traveling
A recent Swiss study of 59,000 respondents found that women and men travelers are prone to different diseases while on the road. The study found that female travelers are more prone to gastrointestinal ailments, particularly traveler’s diarrhea (bring your rehydration kits, ladies!), colds, and reactions to medications taken for traveling, such as anti-malarials. Women are also more prone to urinary tract infections, as is actually true in the greater, non-traveling population as well.
Male voyagers are at higher risk of fevers — that’s what comes from not taking your anti-malarials, guys! — and STDs, as well as altitude sickness and frostbite. Obviously it’s difficult to tell if the sex differences indicate that men and women actually SUFFER from different diseases, or just that they are more likely to seek treatment for these diseases. In the case of STDs, 1% of male travelers in the study sought treatment for an STD at a clinic, and past research has shown that men are more likely to have sex with someone they meet overseas than women are.
To this end, consider this your public safety announcement: ladies and men, bring and wear condoms! The study says, “Safe sex advice is a missing component in most pretravel practices and our study suggests that male travelers, in particular, would benefit from greater preventive efforts.” You might have remembered your Imodium and iodine and Larium and azithromycin, but all you need to protect your personal bits and potentially save your life is two condoms in an easy-to-carry container.
Also, guys: take it easy with altitude adjustments. And women: watch what you eat.
March 9th, 2010 at 9:44 am
It could also mean men and women travel differently: frostbite and altitude sickness could mean men are more like to do adventure travel than women (trekking and such)
March 9th, 2010 at 10:55 am
Oh, I know — it’s so hard to tell from medical study precis’ what the limitations of their research was. So it could actually be, as you say, related more to the types of traveling they do, the kinds of people who would respond to the study in the first place, and the places people were going (maybe more women went to Mexico and more men went to Antarctica). But interesting anyway.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:05 pm
There is no such thing as safe sex, this post is ridiculous. How bout abstinence? It’s a lot safer actually. I will no longer be reading your blog and I am taking it off my feed reader. Discusting. I figured a post like this would come along eventually.
March 10th, 2010 at 1:23 am
[...] Men and women get different diseases while traveling … [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 1:29 am
[...] Men and women get different diseases while traveling … [...]
March 11th, 2010 at 2:39 am
[...] a recent post in Vagablogging quoting a Swedish study that says women travellers are more likely to suffer from colds, gastrointestinal disease and UTI. [...]
April 24th, 2010 at 10:21 am
oh, malcolm. don’t just pick on sex. there is no such thing as safe anything. even avoiding this blog won’t keep you safe from these “discusting” subjects. enjoy the alaska cruise.