Use This Simple Trick to Cut Your Risk of Traveler’s Diarrhea

Q: Last time I was on vacation, I got sick with diarrhea on day two and was out for the remainder of the trip while everyone else had fun. We're traveling abroad again, and I don't want that to happen. Is it just bad luck?

A: Have a peek right now in your medicine cabinet, I bet you already have what you need: Pepto-Bismol, or more precisely, its active ingredient bismuth subsalicylate. This over-the-counter medicine, which you can buy almost anywhere, has been shown in multiple randomized controlled trials to reduce your risk of traveler's diarrhea by 65 percent. Most people who come to my gastroenterology clinic have never heard this. Almost nobody packs it.

Around 1 in 3 people traveling abroad will get diarrhea, most commonly within the first week of the trip. That's an enormous number of vacationers who end up instead as… party poopers.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.