Is it necessary to wear gloves to avoid contamination with lethal bacteria on vacation trips?

for example:
BBC news recently indicated that typhoid is coming back to the UK in huge numbers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6970178.stm

What exactly are going to be touching that you think might give you the cooties? Are you going to wear gloves all the time, or just when you are getting ready to touch something that you fear might be contaminated? If you are going to wear gloves all the time, your hands are going to be soaking wet with sweat in no time at all, and you are going to look pretty silly, at least in my opinion. If you are only going to glove up when you are ready to touch something nasty, you'd better bring a whole box of gloves, you are going to go thru them fast.

Personally, I think you would be much better off carrying a bottle of sanitizer and clean your hands from time to time. And keep your hands away from your mouth, nose, and eyes as much as possible...

Good old handwashing solves a large number of problems. Yes, Typhoid is rising in England, but its a tiny percentage of the total population. I focus on more likely events -- rain, getting lost, 'the hotel has never heard of me,' and other similar situations.

Teacher

I'm forever amused how Americans think the rest of the world is a filthy, disease-ridden place not up to the fine standards of the US.

Let's ponder for a moment todays headlines:

34 Tons of Contaminated Spinach from California
Flesh-Eating Bacteria attacks girl
In Maryland E.Coli contaminates wells...
In Lousiana, schoolyards are contaminated with Arsenic.
In Cedar Fall Iowa, Staph infections are rampant... while in Albany New York, a drug-resistant strain of Staph is out there. Finally, you'll find West Nile Virus basically everywhere in the USA now.

There's plenty to be scared of if you want to be scared. If you want to see the world, it's a great thing to do. The rest of the world is bigger, better and more fun than you'd imagine.

Hahahaha.... no. Most of the crap people get on vacation is ingested anyway. Or airborne. So unless you plan on Evian and a face mask, don't worry about things. Unless you have a really bad nail-biting habit. Besides, in your example, typhoid is usually ingested, and treated with antibiotics.

besides, wearing gloves all day long is a GREAT way to develop an allergy to the glove (latex, nitrile, whatever). And then you'll be much more prone to problems next time you're in the hospital.

Hi picard120,

The BBC news story was interesting, but there is no typhoid problem in the UK. The story relates to how increasing numbers of people who have been infected whilst visiting countries where typhoid is a more common problem. The increase in numbers is mainly due to low cost airline flights to more exotic countries and the way the British are willing to take unnecessary risks to go to these exotic countries without taking the appropriate precautions against being infected.

These countries would be in sub Saharan Africa, Indian sub continent and parts of South East Asia where there are high densities of people in poor sanitary conditions. i.e. very poor developing countries where the plumbing and sewerage services are virtually non existent. The story is to make people aware that typhoid is a preventable disease, which can be vaccinated against, unlike paratyphoid.

Washing your hands instead of wearing gloves makes sense, but again this can prove to be difficult if there is no water taps or sewage disposal i.e. very little in the way of plumbing. In many developing countries clean water is a very precious commodity.

I guess we take for granted services such clean running water at the tap, electricity, communications and transportation, consumerism etc but there is a downside. As millions die from simple preventable poverty related illness in developing countries such as typhoid, malaria, hunger etc there are millions dying from simple preventable wealth related illnesses such as obesity, vascular disease, asthma, diabetes cancer, hospital infections, cars etc.

According to the World Health Organisation, the 10 leading causes of death in 2002 were:

1. 12.6% Ischaemic heart disease
2. 9.7% Cerebrovascular disease
3. 6.8% Lower respiratory infections
4. 4.9% HIV/AIDS
5. 4.8% Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
6. 3.2% Diarrhoeal diseases
7. 2.7% Tuberculosis
8. 2.2% Malaria
9. 2.2% Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers
10. 2.1% Road traffic accidents

Picard, most truly dangerous bacteria need to be inhaled or ingested. It sounds like what you really want is a spacesuit.

I am just contemplating wearing gloves temporarily when I have to use mens washroom in Asia or South America. I don't intend to wear it on daily basis.

I will of course use sanitizer and antibacterial soap after my hands come in contact with dirty things.

Are you planning on protecting yourself from yourself, or from others?

I suppose you could make an argument for gloves to avoid what others may leave you. But, really, are your hands going to be touching the toilet, or other's feces or urine? If you're washing your hands, you're already taking care of the contamination problem. If you're wearing gloves because you're worried about what you may be carrying, then it's already too late.

About the only thing I can think of that you'd be realistically concerned about is flushing, which is really the only time you touch the toilet with your hands. Use a paper towel or some T.P. if you're that concerned, then just wash on the way out.

Phones are a good source for bugs.