SUPPLEMENT ARTICLE Looking for Evidence that Personal Hygiene Precautions Prevent Traveler’s Diarrhea David R. Shlim Jackson Hole Travel and Tropical Medicine, Jackson, Wyoming In the 50 years during which traveler’s diarrhea has been studied, it has always been assumed that personal hygiene precautions can prevent or reduce the likelihood of developing traveler’s diarrhea. However, 7 of 8 studies that specifically addressed this issue showed no correlation between the types of food selected and the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. The eighth study showed a correlation between a few dietary mistakes and a decreased risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. A further increase in the number of dietary mistakes, however, did not continue to increase the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Personal hygiene precautions, when performed under the direct supervision of an expatriate operating his or her own kitchen, can prevent traveler’s diarrhea, but poor restaurant hygiene in most developing countries continues to create an insurmountable risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. The adage “Boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it” has been asserted so often as an effective method to prevent traveler’s diarrhea that it seems almost sacrilegious to question it. A search for this phrase on the Internet via Google yielded 4230 references. At the time of this writing, no one seems to be certain of the origin of the phrase, which entered the travel medicine literature as a quotation in a key article published in 1983 [1]. That article is often cited as proof that how and what one chooses to eat can influence whether one develops traveler’s diarrhea. However, there are 7 other articles that have examined this issue in various ways. None of them suggest that there is a correlation between following the aforementioned advice and a decrease in the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. One of the articles recorded dietary mistakes based on failure to follow pretravel advice, but no “dose-response” relationship was established—in other words, there was no correlation between the number of dietary mistakes and the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. To better understand what we know about the prevention of traveler’s diarrhea through following Reprints or correspondence: Dr. David R. Shlim, Jackson Hole Travel and Tropical Medicine, PO Box 40, Kelly, WY 83011 ([email protected]). Clinical Infectious Diseases 2005; 41:S531–5 2005 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. 1058-4838/2005/4110S8-0003$15.00 dietary advice, it would be worthwhile to review in detail the available literature. METHODS A search of the literature was performed by searching PubMed for the key words “traveler’s diarrhea,” “hygiene,” and “prevention.” In addition, articles that I already had in my files were used. Eight key articles were identified that made specific reference to studies of the prevention of traveler’s diarrhea through personal hygiene precautions. In this context, “personal hygiene precautions” refers to selection or avoidance of particular foods or drinks. RESULTS Eight studies addressed the issue of food precautions and risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Mexico, 1973. The first study, by Loewenstein et al. [2], looked at attendees of the 10th annual International Congress of Microbiology in Mexico City in August 1970. The authors distributed a questionnaire to “almost all” 2200 participants. Given the nature of the topic, we might assume that this was a highly motivated group. However, slightly fewer than one-half of the participants returned a completed questionnaire. The authors analyzed the return rate and results according to the country of origin, and it is easier to summarize Prevention of Traveler’s Diarrhea • CID 2005:41 (Suppl 8) • S531 their results if we limit our focus to the group of participants from the United States and Canada. Of this group, 597 (58%) of 1029 attendees returned questionnaires. Of these 597 persons, 325 (54%) reported at least 1 episode of traveler’s diarrhea. The questionnaire specifically asked whether the person drank bottled liquids or avoided salads, raw vegetables, and unpeeled fruit. The attack rate of traveler’s diarrhea among persons who said that they took these precautions was the same as that among those who said that they did not take these precautions. The conclusion of these authors was that “drinking bottled liquids, and avoiding salads, raw vegetables, and unpeeled fruits also failed to prevent illness” [2, page 530]. Mexico, 1976. The second study, by Merson et al. [3], was also performed at a medical conference in Mexico. The subjects included 73 physicians and 48 of their family members who were attending the Fifth World Congress of Gastroenterology in Mexico City in October 1974. Traveler’s diarrhea occurred in 59 persons (49%). This highly motivated group of participants provided stool specimens before, during, and after their 1–2-week trip to Mexico. In addition, the 73 physicians provided a serum sample before and after the trip. A questionnaire was given to all participants 10 days after they left Mexico. The questionnaire contained questions regarding the consumption of food and water while in Mexico. All participants completed the questionnaire. The authors concluded that “illness was not associated with consumption of water or iced beverages.…Illness was similarly not associated with consumption of vendor food, salads containing raw vegetables, other raw vegetables, or unpeeled fruits” [3, page 1303]. However, the subgroup of participants who acquired infections with enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli had eaten salads containing raw vegetables significantly more often than had noninfected participants (P p .014). This increased risk was not associated with consumption of other raw vegetables or unpeeled fruits. Mexico and Peru, 1978. Chang distributed questionnaires to charter passengers returning from Mexico (n p 162) and Peru (n p 65) [4]. The questionnaires inquired about the severity and number of episodes of traveler’s diarrhea and the risk factors for acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Eighty-two percent of the travelers to Mexico experienced traveler’s diarrhea, whereas 60% of the travelers to Peru reported traveler’s diarrhea. The author noted, “Avoidance of tap water, uncooked foods, and ice cubes did not make a difference in the outcome” [4, page 429]. No details about individual risk factors are given. Worldwide, 1983. Steffen et al. [5] surveyed nearly 10,000 tourists about their food precautions and risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea in various destinations worldwide. For a 22month period, a questionnaire was handed out by air crew members on flights returning to Switzerland and Germany from numerous international destinations. A total of 16,568 questionnaires were distributed, and 60.2% were completed and S532 • CID 2005:41 (Suppl 8) • Shlim returned. The rates of traveler’s diarrhea in developing countries were 30%–57%. Steffen et al. [5] used a unique method of evaluating the rate of traveler’s diarrhea among tourists who applied different levels of food precautions. The baseline rate of diarrhea in all travelers (33.9%) was given the value of 1.0. The results are shown in table 1. The table demonstrates that, in a retrospective study of traveler’s diarrhea, subjects who appeared to exercise more caution were at increased risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Or, as the authors stated: “Thus, diarrhea seemed to occur more frequently the more a person tried to elude it!” [5, page 1179], Even if we ignore, for the moment, the inverse relationship between dietary precautions and the recall of having experienced traveler’s diarrhea, the study certainly did not provide evidence that tourists who were more cautious about what they chose to eat were protected against traveler’s diarrhea. Steffen et al. [5] also noted a differential risk between resort hotels, even at the same general destination. A 2-month survey of 21 hotels in Tunisia, with a minimum of 20 tourists at each hotel during that period, revealed an incidence of traveler’s diarrhea that varied from 26% to 89%. Thus, the source of food (i.e., the individual hotels), not the choice of foods, appeared to make a large difference in the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Worldwide (children), 1991. Data on the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea in traveling children are scarce. Pitzinger et al. [6] performed the one study that focused on the risk and severity of traveler’s diarrhea in a retrospective study of traveling Swiss families. Families that had sought pretravel advice and that had children between the ages of 0 and 20 years were sent questionnaires within 2 weeks of their return from a trip to the tropics or subtropics. Questionnaires were sent to households of 446 young travelers, and 363 (81.4%) of the questionnaires were returned and evaluated. The population of children was stratified according to age, as follows: 0–2 years (n p 20); 3–6 years (n p 47); 7–14 years (n p 46); and 15–20 years (n p 250). Surprisingly, 60.1% of the respondents (n p 218) stated that they took no personal hygiene precautions. Thirty-eight percent of the travelers stated that they regularly employed preventive measures with regard to eating. Parents Table 1. Food precautions taken by travelers versus the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea, compared with the average risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Food precaution No precautions Avoided tap water only Followed 1 recommended precaution Any no. and type of precaution Took ⭓3 precautions No. of travelers Risk value 3382 1518 2530 5966 1041 0.88 0.97 1.08 1.09 1.13 P !.001 NS !.01 !.001 !.001 NOTE. The risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea appears to increase with increasing adherence to food precautions. Adapted from Steffen et al. [5]. NS, not significant. tended to be more cautious with their children who were !3 years old: the parents of 12 (60%) of the 20 children in this age group said that they had consistently followed dietary guidelines. This percentage decreased to 34%–48% for parents of children in the other age groups. The incidence of traveler’s diarrhea in the 0–2-year age group was 60%, despite the added care that their parents exercised. The rate of traveler’s diarrhea in this age group, expressed as the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea per 14 days, was 40%. The rate of traveler’s diarrhea per 14 days in the other age groups was as follows: 3–6 years, 8.5%; 7–14 years, 21.7%; and 15–20 years, 36.0%. The authors looked for correlations between the families that followed eating precautions and the rate of traveler’s diarrhea. They concluded that “no significant differences between those who did and did not adhere to the rules were observed in children below the age of 15 years” [6, page 1991]. In the 15–20year age group, the protective effect of eating precautions just reached significance (P ! .05). Again, for reasons that are difficult to explain, young children whose parents took the most precautions had the highest rate of traveler’s diarrhea. This finding may be related to the increased susceptibility to pathogens among children in the 0– 2-year age group, but, even if this is true, trying to prevent ingestion of pathogens should decrease the rate of illness. Morocco, 1995. When hygienic eating precautions are evaluated, the question is always raised as to whether these rules are capable of being applied while traveling or whether travelers are motivated to do so. Certainly, the rate of dietary mistakes is high where it has been evaluated. If the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea is associated with eating or avoiding certain foods or types of foods, travelers who adhere to this advice the most closely should be least likely to experience traveler’s diarrhea. However, this was not the case in the study conducted by Matilla et al. [7] among Finnish travelers to Morocco. The subjects were tourists on package tours to Morocco for 1 or 2 weeks. Subjects were contacted by letter prior to travel, and those willing to participate in the study were seen by an investigator and given a questionnaire to be filled out during the trip. The questionnaire contained questions about the consumption of 13 different food and beverage items. A total of 993 persons completed the study and supplied a stool sample. However, the majority of the study population (n p 788) was randomized to receive the B subunit– whole-cell cholera vaccine, which offers some protection against enterotoxigenic E. coli, or placebo. Of the group who received only placebo or no vaccine (n p 547), 155 (28%) developed traveler’s diarrhea during their trip. The authors observed that only 46 (5%) of the total number of travelers claimed to have made no dietary mistakes. Of this group, 15 (33%) developed traveler’s diarrhea. The authors stated: “the incidence of traveler’s diarrhea was not associated with the presence or absence of any specific dietary errors or the number of them committed” [7, page 81]. Nepal, 1996. After living in Nepal and running the main travel medicine clinic that took care of foreigners there for 12 years, I realized that we still did not have solidly based recommendations that could help a traveler prevent traveler’s diarrhea. We undertook a year-long study in 1992–1993 to evaluate risk factors for traveler’s diarrhea, focusing in particular on the expatriate (foreign resident) population who lived at continuous risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea [8]. Sixty-nine expatriates and 120 tourists with traveler’s diarrhea were enrolled in the study and were compared with 112 asymptomatic tourist and expatriate control subjects. The people with diarrhea were randomly enrolled each day if they happened to be the first 2 patients of the day with stool soft enough to conform to the cup used for stool collection. They were then asked to complete a 10-page questionnaire. The control subjects were recruited from patients at the Canadian International Water and Energy Consultants Clinic (Kathmandu, Nepal) who presented with a nongastrointestinal complaint, had not experienced diarrhea for at least 2 weeks, and were willing to supply a stool sample and fill out the same questionnaire. The results of our case-control study of risk factors are summarized in table 2. The traditionally mentioned risk factors— ingestion of tap water, ice, unpeeled fresh fruit, or raw vegetables—were not associated with an increased risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. However, the case-control method did detect a risk from simply eating in a restaurant and from eating other foods not previously thought to be associated with an increased risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. Eating foods that are cooked earlier in the day and then are allowed to sit at room temperature for a prolonged period before serving (e.g., quiche, lasagna, or casseroles) was highly associated with traveler’s diarrhea. In addition, drinking a blended fruit and yogurt drink, called a “lassi” in Nepal, was also highly associated with traveler’s diarrhea. These positive associations confirmed the value of the case-control method in determining risk factors. We concluded: “Our study failed to confirm as risk factors among residents certain foods widely believed to be associated with traveler’s diarrhea, such as leafy vegetables, unpeeled fruits, untreated water, and ice” [8, page 536–7]. Worldwide, 1985. Kozicki et al. [1] attempted to try to overcome some of the limitations of memory recall associated with questionnaires that are given to travelers after they return from a trip and have (or have not) already experienced traveler’s diarrhea. They distributed 2240 questionnaires to Swiss travelers departing to a wide variety of destinations. The travelers were asked to record their eating choices for the first 3 days of their holiday and to note whether they experienced traveler’s diarrhea during the first 5 days of their trip. They were then to return the questionnaire at the end of the trip. Six hundred eighty-eight (30.7%) of the 2240 travelers who Prevention of Traveler’s Diarrhea • CID 2005:41 (Suppl 8) • S533 Table 2. Risk factors for traveler’s diarrhea among foreign residents of Nepal. Risk factor Drank untreated water Took ice in drink Ate raw vegetables Ate unpeeled fresh fruit Ate fruit salad in restaurant Ate at least 1 meal in restaurant during preceding week Meals eaten in restaurant during preceding week, median no. (IQR) Ate foods that require reheatingb Drank lassic Case patients (n p 69) Control subjects (n p 87) P 6 (9) 6/67a (9) 26/68a (38) 27 (39) 23/68a (34) 66 (96) 4 (2–7) 15 (22) 22/68a (32) 8 (9) 10 (11) 29 (33) 32 (37) 28 (32) 72 (83) 2 (1–5) 6 (7) 8/86a (9) NS NS NS NS NS .01 .03 .007 !.001 NOTE. Data are no. (%) of patients or subjects, except where noted. Adapted from Hoge and Shlim [8]. IQR, interquartile range; NS, not significant. a Denominator used in the calculation of the percentage excludes persons who did not answer the question regarding this risk factor. b For example, quiche, lasagna, or casseroles. c A blended fruit/yogurt drink. accepted questionnaires actually returned a completed questionnaire. As the authors concede, this subgroup of travelers may not be representative of the entire group. We do not know what happened to the other 1552 people. The self-selection of travelers who decided to record their eating choices may not be representative of the group as a whole. However, the study is the only prospective study of eating choices in relation to traveler’s diarrhea that has been attempted, so the authors decided to report the results anyway. Only 13 travelers (2%) were able to adhere to the dietary precautions they had been given. In the group that made 0–1 dietary mistakes (n p 51), there were 3 cases of traveler’s diarrhea. The rate of traveler’s diarrhea increased to 24% in the group that made 6–7 mistakes, and it then leveled off, despite an increase in total mistakes (for a total of 13). In other words, a further number of dietary mistakes did not continue to increase the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea beyond the risk that existed in association with 7 mistakes, the point at which 24% of tourists got traveler’s diarrhea. In addition to the number of dietary mistakes made, the study looked at particular risk factors. Drinking bottled water was a significant risk for traveler’s diarrhea, although drinking tap water was not. Use of ice cubes appeared to be a significant risk. Drinking fruit juice, whether bottled or not, was not associated with traveler’s diarrhea, neither was eating peeled or unpeeled tomatoes. Eating peeled or unpeeled fruits was not associated with traveler’s diarrhea. However, eating raw salads was associated with traveler’s diarrhea in this study. In addition, consumption of cold meats or raw meat (steak tartare) was associated with traveler’s diarrhea, as was consumption of raw oysters. If you look at the list of significant and nonsignificant risk factors, there is no clear pattern that supports the adage “Boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it.” S534 • CID 2005:41 (Suppl 8) • Shlim DISCUSSION Seven studies of risk factors for traveler’s diarrhea, conducted during a 23-year period, failed to find any correlation between following the usual dietary precautions and a diminished risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea. The eighth study appeared to show a correlation between cumulative dietary mistakes and an increased risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea over a 3-day period, but a review of the individual foods associated with traveler’s diarrhea—for example, showing that drinking bottled water was associated with traveler’s diarrhea whereas drinking tap water was not—makes it difficult to understand the risks associated with consumption of individual foods. In an editorial accompanying the publication of the article by Steffen et al. in 1983 [5], DuPont et al. concluded: “While food is the major vehicle of transmission, Steffen et al. provide data that indicate we cannot avoid the problem [of traveler’s diarrhea] by exercising care in where and what we eat” [9, page 1194]. In a review of the papers available to him in 1986, Blaser wrote: “Surprisingly, the drinking of bottled liquids and the avoidance of salads, raw vegetables, and unpeeled fruit failed to prevent diarrhea…These results may suggest that the etiologic agents which cause travelers’ diarrhea are so ubiquitous in high-risk areas that preventive measures are without value” [10, page S144]. Despite the evidence and the opinions of experts, the belief that food precautions could reduce the likelihood of traveler’s diarrhea continued to be asserted. A consensus panel on traveler’s diarrhea convened by the National Institutes of Health in 1985 concluded that “data indicate that meticulous attention to food and beverage preparation can decrease the likelihood of developing traveler’s diarrhea” [11, page 2702]. At that point in time, the only “data” that they could be referring to is the article by Kozicki et al. [1]. They appear to ignore the 3 earlier articles that failed to find such a correlation. However, the consensus statement went on to say, “Most travelers encounter great difficulty in observing the requisite dietary restrictions” [11, page 2702]. In other words, the advice must be correct, but travelers simply cannot follow it. Where does this leave the traveler and the travel health professional? It appears that the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea cannot be diminished significantly by teaching travelers simple rules to follow with regard to food choices. Either the rules are not sufficient, or the ability to follow them is beyond 95%–98% of all travelers. The fact that 30% of travelers who made no dietary mistakes got traveler’s diarrhea suggests that the current rules are insufficient, whether they can be followed or not. On the other hand, there is no question that foods available in developing countries are contaminated [12–14]. Moreover, it is true that contaminated food can be made safe to eat by cooking it, washing it, or peeling it. The observation that expatriate residents safely eat locally obtained foods in their own kitchens but become sick when they eat the same foods prepared in restaurants supports the view that proper food handling is effective. A number of studies have pinpointed the risk of acquiring traveler’s diarrhea as being associated with dining in restaurants in general, independent of the types of food ordered [8, 15, 16]. Why would this be so? The preparation and handling of food that is served to the public present numerous opportunities for contamination that would thwart the benefits of “boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it.” An examination of restaurants in Kathmandu, Nepal, reported recently in another review [17], revealed that there were no sinks in which employees could wash their hands after going to the toilet. Cutting boards were not washed between cutting up raw meat and peeling and cutting vegetables. Foods were cooked, but then were left to sit at ambient temperatures for extended periods because of a paucity of refrigerator space. Windows were not screened to prevent entry of flies. Electricity supplies were often intermittent, and power outages occurred for hours without warning, further diminishing the protection offered by refrigeration. Dishes were inadequately washed and sanitized because of the absence of abundant hot water or commercial dishwashers. Defrosting meat would sit on a refrigerator shelf dripping juices into already cooked foods. The sum total of these errors leads to abundant opportunities for the spread of enteric pathogens, whether from employees’ hands, flies, or contaminated meat and produce, with ample time available for bacterial growth to reach infective levels. One could postulate that “boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it” would be good advice to someone who was purchasing and preparing their own food in a sanitized kitchen but that it is inadequate for travelers faced with the multiplicity of hygienic errors found in the kitchens of many destination countries. The finding in Kathmandu that consumption of lasagnas or lassis was highly associated with traveler’s diarrhea suggests that the risk factors may extend beyond conventional advice and can only be discovered by further studies casting a wider net of questions. Having worked in Nepal for 12 years at the time of our study [8], I had no suspicion that drinking lassis was a risk factor for traveler’s diarrhea until we did the study. The earliest studies on traveler’s diarrhea were done 50 years ago and showed an incidence of 30%–50% among travelers. Since that time, we have learned the etiology of most cases of traveler’s diarrhea and have developed travel medicine into a specialty practiced by at least 3000 people worldwide, making travel medicine information more widely available. Despite this knowledge, the rate of traveler’s diarrhea in travelers is still 30%–50%. Clearly, a new approach to the prevention of traveler’s diarrhea is needed if we are going to be able to decrease the risk to travelers over the next 50 years. Acknowledgments Financial support. Salix Pharmaceuticals. Potential conflicts of interest. D.R.S.: no conflict. References 1. Kozicki M, Steffen R, Schar M. “Boil it, cook it, peel it, or forget it”: does this rule prevent travellers’ diarhoea? Int J Epidemiol 1985; 14: 169–72. 2. Loewenstein MS, Balows A, Gangarosa EJ. Turista at an international congress in Mexico. Lancet 1973; 1:529–31. 3. Merson MH, Morris GK, Sack DA, et al. Travelers’ diarrhea in Mexico. N Engl J Med 1976; 294:1299–305. 4. Chang T-W. Traveler’s diarrhea [letter]. Ann Intern Med 1978; 89:428–9. 5. Steffen R, van der Linde F, Gyr K, Schar M. Epidemiology of diarrhea in travelers. JAMA 1983; 249:1176–80. 6. Pitzinger B, Steffen R, Tschopp A. Incidence and clinical features of traveler’s diarrhea in infants and children. Pediatr Infect Dis J 1991; 10:719–23. 7. Mattila L, Siitonen A, Kyronseppa H, Simula II, Peltola H. Risk behavior for travelers’ diarrhea among Finnish travelers. J Travel Med 1995; 2:77–84. 8. Hoge CW, Shlim DR, Echeverria P, Rajah R, Hermann JE, Cross JH. Epidemiology of diarrhea among expatriate residents living in a highly endemic environment. JAMA 1996; 275:533–8. 9. DuPont HL, Ericsson CD, Murray BE. Traveler’s diarrhea: can it be eluded? JAMA 1983; 249:1193–4. 10. Blaser MJ. Environmental interventions for the prevention of travelers’ diarrhea. Rev Infect Dis 1986; 8(Suppl 2):S142–50. 11. Travelers’ diarrhea. NIH Consensus Development Conference. JAMA 1985; 253:2700–4. 12. Rasrinaul L, Suthiendull O, Echeverria PD, et al. Foods as a source of enteropathogens causing childhood diarrhea in Thailand. Am J Trop Med Hyg 1988; 39:97–102. 13. Echeverria P, Piyaphong S, Bodhidatta L, Hoge CW, Tungsen C. Bacterial enteric pathogens in uncooked foods in Thai Markets. J Travel Med 1994; 1:63–7. 14. Adachi JA, Mathewson JJ, Jiang ZD, Ericsson CD, DuPont HL. Enteric pathogens in Mexican sauces of popular restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico, and Houston, Texas. Ann Intern Med 2002; 136:884–7. 15. Tjoa WS, DuPont HL, Sullivan P, et al. Location of food consumption and travelers’ diarrhea. Am J Epidemiol 1977; 106:61–66. 16. Ericsson CD, Pickering K, Sullivan P, DuPont HL. The role of location of food consumption in the prevention of travelers’ diarrhea in Mexico. Gastroenterology 1980; 79:812–6. 17. Shlim DR. Update in traveler’s diarrhea. Infect Dis Clin North Am 2005; 19:137–49. Prevention of Traveler’s Diarrhea • CID 2005:41 (Suppl 8) • S535
© Copyright 2026 Paperzz