Young Isabelle - Central & South America: healthy travel

Dr Isabelle Young qualified as a doctor in Britain before deciding there must be more to life than bleeps and hospital coffee. Her travels through various parts of the world have provided her with plenty of opportunity for putting her training into practice.

Dr Tony Gherardin is currently National Medical Adviser of the Travel Doctor-TMVC Group in Australia. He is a keen traveller and has spent several years living and working as a doctor overseas. When not travelling with his family, he spends most of his time providing travel health advice to travellers heading in all directions around the globe.

To ensure that the information included in this guide is the best available and in line with current practice, a team of expert medical advisers was on hand every step of the way.

Help..., Coughs, Rashes & Other Common Problems, Ears, Eyes & Teeth (Ears), Mental Wellbeing, Women Travellers, First Aid (Wound Care), Buying & Using Medicines

Dr Corinne Else spends most of her time working as a general practitioner in the UK. Every now and again she manages to take time off to travel in Africa with her husband, helping him to research and write Lonely Planet guidebooks.

Climate & Altitude, Water Safety, First Aid

Dr Christopher Van Tilberg specialises in wilderness and emergency medicine. He is adventure sports editor for Wilderness Medicine Letter and active in mountain rescue and wilderness safety education in the US. He is the author of Backcountry Snowboarding and Canyoneering, both published by The Mountaineers Books.

Babies & Children, Buying & Using Medicines

Dr John Mason was a family physician for 13 years before becoming Clinical Director of the UK-based Preventative Healthcare Company. Part of his responsibility is to provide international travel care and advice to client company employees and their families, as well as managing their healthcare while abroad.

HIV/AIDS & Sexual Health

Dr Brian Mulhall is a Clinical Senior Lecturer in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at the University of Sydney, Australia. He has travelled extensively and has written several texts on sex and travel. His contribution was sponsored by the New South Wales Health Department and the Commonwealth Department of Health as part of a sexual health promotion program for travellers.

Medical Kit (Before You Go), Safe Drinking Water, Insect Bites (Staying Healthy)

Dr Larry Goodyer is Chief Pharmacist for Nomad Travel Stores & Travel Clinics, London, UK. He is also a senior lecturer in clinical pharmacy at Kings College, London. His travels in India and Australia give him the first-hand experience to produce medical kits for both tropical and developing world travel. Paul Goodyer is the CEO of Nomad Travel Stores & Travel Clinics. His travels over the last 20 years include trips to Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East. Getting ill on the road due to lack of knowledge led to the concept of a travellers medical centre.

Special thanks go to the World Health Organization for permission to reproduce the data for the maps between the first two chapters.

First, a big thank you to all the medical advisers, without whom this book would not have come into existence. Thank you also to Fred Peterson MD for his helpful comments on the text of Healthy Travel Central & South America, many of which are incorporated in the text of this guide.

Thanks go to the following experts who contributed text to the guide: Graeme Johnson for the section on Eyes; Iain Corran for the section on Teeth; Michelle Sobel for the Diabetic Travellers section in Travellers with Special Needs; Chris Wheeler for the text on foot care and blisters (in Staying Healthy and Wilderness Health & Safety); Bernadette Saulenier for the boxed text Alternative First Aid for Travellers; and Elissa Coffman for the section on Alternative Therapies.

Some of the information in this guide was drawn from Lonely Planet guides, which are researched and written by a global team of staff and authors.

Many other people helped make this guide what it is through generously providing information, constructive comments and helpful suggestions. In no particular order, thanks go to Chris Banks and Patrick Honan of Melbourne Zoo for helpful information on snakes, spiders and scorpions; Moya Tomlinson of Womens Health (London) for suggestions for the Women Travellers chapter; Dr Michael Thomas of the Blood Care Foundation and Professor Neil Boyce of the Australian Red Cross for pointers for information on blood transfusions; Dr John Putland of the Qantas Aviation Health Services Department and the British Airways Medical Service in Heathrow for providing heaps of background information on air travel for the On the Move chapter; the National Sports Information Centre (Australia) for great reference material on climatic extremes; John Nathan for helpful insights on older travellers; Roslyn Bullas of Lonely Planets Diving & Snorkelling series and Susannah Farfor for suggestions for the scuba diving section; the staff at IAMAT for generously providing us with information on their organisation; Darren Elder of Lonely Planets Cycling series for finding the time to come up with the safety tips for cyclists that appear in the Wilderness Health & Safety chapter; and Jenny Thorpe and Suzanne Harrison, travelling mothers extraordinaire, for invaluable insights into the rigours of travelling with children. Thanks also go to Leonie Mugavin for her helpful suggestions, book-acquiring abilities and moral support.

Finally, in time-honoured tradition, Isabelle would like to thank her partner, David Petherbridge, for his help and unfailing support throughout this project next time well climb mountains instead.