Illness on holiday abroad – will medical treatment help?

When we fall ill, the first thing we think about is getting help – especially on holiday when that precious time can easily be ruined by a bout of holiday sickness and diarrhoea.

If you are holidaying in the EU, it is important to apply for the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card) several weeks before departure, as this allows EU citizens to obtain the same medical treatment as local residents in your holiday destination should you fall ill.

You will also need travel insurance to cover any illnesses – and remember that severe bouts of sickness and traveller’s diarrhoea may result in symptoms of dehydration, requiring hospital treatment or visits from a private local doctor if you are ill out-of-hours, which could run into hundreds of pounds.

But when should you accept the offer of hospital treatment – or prescription drugs abroad?

Many drugs can interact with each other and produce adverse side effects – so if you are taking medication for a specific condition like angina, for example, it is important that you only take medications which will not interact adversely with your angina treatment.

Even so-called complementary medicines can cause an adverse reaction if taken with a drug to treat another condition, disease or illness – and because of this, buying medications over-the-counter while on holiday to treat holiday illnesses can be risky.

Sickness and diarrhoea on holiday is usually caused either by a bacterial or parasitic infection such as salmonella (bacterial) or cryptosporidium (parasitic). Viral infections such as Norovirus can also cause holiday sickness and diarrhoea.

However, buying antibiotics over-the-counter can be pointless, as although they are used to treat bacterial infections, quite often you will need a specific antibiotic or a combination of two antibiotics to treat a particular bacterial infection.

This is why obtaining a diagnosis of any gastric illness contracted on holiday is important – antibiotics will not, however, treat parasitic or viral gastric infections, which usually clear up on their own unless there is a secondary infection, such as a urinary tract infection.

Over-the-counter medications like loperamide for diarrhoea and domperidone for vomiting can help ease the symptoms of holiday sickness and diarrhoea, but sometimes it is also best to let the infection pass out of the body through diarrhoea rather than try and contain it in the bowel with anti-diarrhoeal medication.

However, severe doses of sickness and diarrhoea or those which do not show signs of improvement after 24 hours should always be referred to a doctor.

If you are ill on holiday with traveller’s diarrhoea, it is a good idea to see your GP on your return home – or phone your GP surgery in the UK from your holiday resort if you are experiencing severe symptoms and are worried about receiving treatment at a local medical centre or hospital; especially if you have a pre-existing health issue or are being treated for a medical condition in the UK – or are holidaying in a developing country where there may not be a public health laboratory local to your holiday hotel.