A strange illness

I do not travel a lot and if I do it's mostly within Europe. Other than some general and mild illnesses I haven't gotten something that was too bad fortunatly. I am sorry to hear about her having too take such a long break from school. It must be bad not to know 'what hit you' when you've been so ill for a long time. Glad to hear she's feeling better now.

I must have been amazing in Zanzibar where the lady in your husband's family went. I can imagine the beaches and the palm trees. I think there would have been insects there which could have bit the lady and made her ill. More likely I think it could have been food or a drink that she ate or drank. Water that is not clean can make a person ill. I traveled in Sumatra and felt well and had an amazingly interesting time. Whilst there I was careful to avoid insect bites and eat clean food only. I was also careful with the drinks that I had. I waited a long time for a ferry and everyone was offered a free meal as we all had to wait so very long. On the ferry I got a high fever and kept being sick all over the place. I felt weak and ill. It was very hard to arrive looking so ill and officials were asking if anyone had been in a yellow fever area. I got a rickshaw to where I was staying. It was a bed in a dorm room in the youth hostel. I carried on feeling ill with a high fever and bad tummy pains. I couldn't eat because it made me be sick. I went out when I felt better but in a supermarket I felt unwell. I asked for an empty box and I felt like I was going to be sick. Sadly I was sick and so it was too early for me to be up and around. A couple of days later I felt better and left the youth hostel on the next part of my journey. The other females in the dorm all wished to have that bed. All the other beds had bed bugs.

Hi Porcospino Well, I would blame the mosquitoes at Africa. One of my friends too had caught some unidentified illness from Tanzania. And it was after some research on the internet that he found that there is a specific breed of mosquitoes that induced such illness where you sleep a lot more, feel weak no matter what and how nutritious you eat. He returned back to Tanzania and met their local doctors and got cured. This re-visit was possible because he worked with a firm who had sent him there the first time and the next time too. He stayed and worked there for about 8 years. Anyways, I havent been to any other country, but there is an mystery illness issue which happened to my brother - We were touring North India during 1993 and after return my brother lost much of his weight in 15 days. All medical tests were normal and doctors didnt have any clue (as always). Then someone suggested that there was some witchcraft involved and recommended us to consult one "Tantrik" (Occultist). We did and he gave him some Holy water to drink for next 15 days. And all was better since.

that is perhaps the jet-lag effect.

I have not had such bad luck with our travels. But, its one of those things that I fear about traveling to a different place. Especially, if I don't know much of what to expect there, in the health aspect. Recently, there was a virus outbreak in Cambodia. One place, we were planning to visit this year, but, I guess we'd have to just postpone that plan so we won't acquire any unwated disease.