Here are a few observations from nationwide studies conducted by the US CDC, NIH, Mexican hospitals, and Mexican Medical Schools that suggest why both tourists and ex-pats NOB hygiene habits don’t work so well here in the Tropics. http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/14/3/pdfs/07-1057.pdf
Unsupported link http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/498508
Over 40% of Yucatecans have no bathroom / septic system facilities, 25% are basically illiterate, and across Mexico:
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/3/images/07-1057_1b.gif
These study results showed that meat sold in typical Mexican grocery stores had equivalent or higher levels of salmonella contamination than was found in local animal intestine fecal samples. Detailed analyses of the salmonella genotypes pointed to butchering practices as the most likely source of the contamination. These results for Mexico sure seem troubling, but are actually roughly 3X less contaminated than US chicken, 83% of which nationally was found to be contaminated by either Salmonella or Campylobacter. (http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/january/food/chicken-safety/overview/chicken-safety-ov.htm)
So, if US chicken et al have similar or higher levels of commercial raw meat contamination, why would there be higher risks of getting food poisoning , worms, amoebas, or parasites in Mexico?
The CDC/Horan authors go on to say: “…in the other states (like Yucatan), Salmonella spp. infections are probably acquired by other modes of transmission aside from contaminated food, such as from person to person or by contact with animal feces. In settings with greater fecal-oral transmission, asymptomatic infections would not directly reflect contamination rates in the retail meat.”
It is worth noting that these Salmonella were also resistant to common antibiotics (except Cipro) in about 15% – 20% of the cases.
And then they put a nice bow onto this little present describing typical Yucatecan households:
Population >15 yr. old, who are illiterate or with incomplete primary education: 40.1%
Households with no toilet or latrine: 24.6%
Households with no sewage system: 40.8%
Percentage of kindergartners with endemic salmonella infections” 16%
(Sonora, Michoacan, & San Luis Potosi were only nominally better.)
Before we criticize too heavily, how many people with NOB habits wash their hands for 20 seconds of vigorously rubbing soapy suds on our hands? How many (likely illiterate) food service workers know what’s needed to stop salmonella transmission?
How many expats and visitors from NOB know how to properly disinfect fruit and veg, counters, cutting boards, floors, etc?
Past NIH tests of fecal coliform contamination of commercial fruits and veg, in Mexico City consistently found high levels of salmonella in almost all samples, due to the use of “organic” (fecal) fertilizers and contaminated irrigation water. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17061512
So, just what works, and what doesn’t, if you want to keep yourself and your family safe and healthy?
The NIH study evaluating Mexican vegetable contamination found that the silver colloid based disinfectants (like microdyne, biodyne, etc) lowered fecal coliform (pooh bacteria) counts, but did not eliminate them, and these same silver colloid products did not remove salmonella typhi risks in any samples. They found that bleach-based disinfectant solutions** were effective against all three major families of microbial contaminants tested (killing fecal coliforms, salmonella, and various pathogenic mesophillic microorganisms).
After having Walmart/Chederaui/Soriana/Mega-Commercial meat sometimes go bad in as little as 2 days, I started watching meat handling practices at these stores, checking out different stores to try to find a good one, and I found that employees routinely pack and un-pack the cases, leaving the meat sit out warm in carts 1 – 2 hr at all of these stores.
I really hate food poisoning, after a number of really wicked bouts in Ukraine after the break-up of the Soviet Union, so, I began feeling the packages in the cold cases of each store, and often find the meat warm – room temp – to the touch. The meat department in every single store mentioned has smelled absolutely awful at least once in the past 3 years, much worse than anything I’d experienced in 40 years of shopping in the States. We’ve had similar issues with the Deli sections of the aforementioned stores, with occasional ham and bacon going bad within 24 hrs of purchase. The only reliable solution we’ve found is to buy meat that is still frozen, as it is sold at Super Aki. Some people rely on fresh-killed meats from local butchers, but all it takes is one fly to land on that, blow a few of their regurgitated bubbles, and even that meat has surface contamination.
Fortunately, typical bacterial contamination is only on the outside of meat (though not true for hamburger and ground meats where the grinding process distributes the contamination throughout the meat). This means that well cooked meat (thoroughly maintained at temperatures above 145ºF for at least 3 minutes) is safe from bacterial, protozoan, and amoebic contamination. One might also note that the lime juice used to prepare ceviche does not kill worms nor their encysted forms, potentially important as past studies have found roughly 80% of ocean fish have some sort of parasites.
Walk barefoot on the beach, enjoy the surf, eat some ceviche or local sashimi/sushi, & as a bonus: take home some extra “special souvenirs”. (Souvenirs that your local NOB physician likely has no idea of how to diagnose or treat.)
The remaining kitchen/prep problems are solved by immediate careful disinfection** of cutting & handling tools, disinfection of cutting boards, & anything touched by the raw meat, (disinfect using dilute bleach**), followed by thorough hand washing (20 seconds of soapy suds using an antibacterial soap).
http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/14/3/429.htm from Emerging Infectious Diseases
It’s also worth noting that the high %’s of salmonella on retail meat should also translate to salmonella on the outside of the meat packages. To avoid contaminating your hands, then touching the handle of the shopping cart, and your car’s steering wheel, if you shop for your fruit and veg first, you have a chance to pick up some extra plastic bags. If you slip the bag over your hand, pick out your meat, and then invert the bag over your meat package, you can keep your hands, the shopping cart handle, and your car door handles and steering wheel reasonably clean.
It also helps the clerk if you insert the meat package with the $$$ sticker close to the open end of the baggie, so, they can easily flip back the baggie to scan the sticker. Don’t get me started thinking about other shoppers handling the meat, and then touching the cart handles, which we then touch, and then we go out to our cars and handle the steering wheel…
All of this means that illiterate food service workers very likely transmit low levels of microbes and parasites to unsuspecting diners, and that if you rely on Microdyne, Bacdyne, etc, they just don’t work well, (and no, even though their names imply having iodine as an ingredient: they actually use colloidal silver). It also says that short hand washes also don’t work, but learning to not touch your mouth, nose, and eyes does help.
Post Script to keep things in perspective:
US Turkey was no better in past USDA studies: roughly 50% of US retail turkey had salmonella.
US Chicken has been worse: 65% – 83% of retail chicken tested had salmonella and or campylobacter.
US Beef and Pork were far cleaner @ under 5% with salmonella.
A few final thoughts:
Soap and hot water do not disinfect things nor do they kill microbes. Soap and water simply remove dirt and grease that offer places for microbes to grow.
To kill microbes (disinfect things) & eliminate the hazards described above it takes either:
- harsh chemicals (like dishwasher soap) and high temperatures (3 minutes @ 145ºF or 65ºC) or chemical disinfectants (like dilute bleach solutions**) or
- crown ethers (like in bar-glass washing solutions),
- triclosan, as in antibacterial soaps, or
- peroxide, or
- alcohols like the hand disinfectants popular since H1N1 flu outbreaks.
**Bleach Dilution Disinfection Protocols:
- Stored Water Treatment (tinacos etc): 10 mL (1 tsp) bleach per 100 L of non-turbid clear water or 1/4 cup of bleach per 275 gal tinaco makes water microbially safe in 15 minutes.
- Toilets and Sinks: Apply bleach without dilution via spray or brush for 10 minutes and rinse.
- Drinking water: 2 drops of bleach per liter of clear water (20 drops per mL) and wait 15 min.
- Fruits and Vegetables: Wash & scrub thoroughly first to remove dirt, then 10 drops bleach per liter of water and soak for 5 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.
- Floors and bathroom surfaces (tub & shower): 1/4 cup (60 mL) bleach per gal of wash water and leave it on the surface for 5 minutes before rinsing.
- Children’s Plastic Toys: Remove dirt first with soap and water, then use 1/4 cup (60 mL) bleach per liter of water and soak for 5 minutes and rinse.
- Baby Bottles & Nipples: 1 drop of bleach per liter, soak for 2 minutes and rinse.
- Other Plastic Objects: Apply straight bleach for 5 minutes and rinse – note that this might cause a permanent bleaching of some plastics.
- Glasses and Plates: 1/4 cup (60 mL) per gallon of dish washing soapy water, scrub off food residues, and allow to soak for 5 minutes.
Notes:
– Only use unscented normal bleach for these purposes: do not use scented or non-splash bleach. (Blanqueador de Ropa)
– NEVER COMBINE BLEACH WITH ANY BASE (higher pH chemical)
– NEVER MIX BLEACH SOLUTIONS WITH AMMONIA PRODUCTS OR DRIED URINE (concentrated UREA),
***because Base + Bleach = Toxic Chlorine Gas***
– Some people report that regular dosing with freeze dried probiotic mixtures of beneficial bacteria and fungi can overseed our GI systems with microbes that put out the “No Vacancy” sign to incoming pathogens.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19681275?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pu for more info on the efficacy of various vegetable cleaning procedures.
There is no joy in Mudville…
(no glee in telling these tales)
But with knowledge, you can improve your chances.
* * * *
Please Continue to Make Comments and Replies to Help Keep This Information Current!
Disclaimer: This information is not meant as legal advice. It is for educational and informational purposes only. Government policies vary between States and offices, and Mexican Government officials have broad discretion in how they individually enforce policies, so, your personal experiences may vary. See a professional for advice on important issues.
* * * *
Feel free to copy with proper attribution: YucaLandia/Surviving Yucatan.
© Steven M. Fry
Read-on MacDuff . . .
Surviving Yucatan 
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Thanks for the excellent information. I have had salmonellas and/or amaebas twice a year for many years, usually after travelling or eating in a restaurtant. It could be a 5+ star restaurtant downto minus 5 stars. Same results. Have been using microdyne and husband says it doesn’t work so have discontinued all salads. Hope to be growing our own organic produce soon but will still have to disinfect with bleach. Also, does a spray or vinegar followed by drying and then a spray of H2O2 work for disinfecting?. Have had many anti-biotics, the only one seemimg to work on the salmonella has been Chloromycetin in huge doses. It works about 50 percent of the time, often leaving me with terrible digestion, candida etc. etc. I have taken many natural remedies which seems to be effective for a week or two. Oil of oregano, olive leaf extract, golden seal, , nutribiotic etc.
Would appreciate any commentaries. Otherwise am very healthy with no medications even thoughI am nearer to 80 than 70 years old and still work etc. I appreciate your write-up-. thanks. Jeanne
Jeanne,
Sorry to hear about your on-going GI problems = no fun.
If you had non-typhoid Salmonella, Ciprofloxen was found to work well in Yucatecan studies in 2006, though non-typhoid Salmonella ‘s have developed some resistance to Cipro in the meantime. Azithromycin (Zithromax) has also been effective against non-typhoid Salmonella infections. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/228174-treatment
If you instead had Salmonella typhi or S paratyphi etc, then it may take stronger antibiotics, like Chloramphenicol (nasty stuff). Obviously, consult with your physician before starting such treatments.
If you have to use such meds, it is often helpful to re-seed/over-seed the gut with capsules of freeze-dried beneficial probiotic bacteria and beneficial fungi (like beet-top molds).
Sidelight: “In general, (a dose of) about 1 million bacterial cells are needed to cause (Salmonella) infection. Low gastric acidity, which is common in elderly persons and among individuals who use antacids, can decrease the infective dose to 1000 cells, while prior vaccination can increase the number to 1 billion cells.”
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/228174-overview
As an older person with lower stomach acid concentration, you may well want to consider getting vaccinated, according to the source listed above and “World Health Organization Communicable Disease Surveilance and Response. Vaccines and Biologicals. Background document: The diagnosis, treatment and prevention of typhoid fever.” http://www.who.int/vaccines-documents/DocsPDF03/www740.pdf. Accessed 10/29/08.
The other advice would be to follow the precautionary items we listed on Mexconnect:
The point in the original post was that there are significant and similar risks of GI upset – Montezuma’s Revenge – both North and South of the Border. It seems clear that poverty and illiteracy play significant roles in allowing amoebic parasites, protozoan parasites, worms, and bacterial GI illnesses to spread.
All these items point to how such illnesses can disrupt a trip but should not terrorize travelers, and that they can be avoided both NOB and SOB with a few practical precautions.
* Wear footwear on the beach;
* Wash hands vigorously for 20 sec w/soapy suds before eating;
* Avoid touching your nose, mouth, & eyes;
* Use disinfectant wipes on commonly touched surfaces like home & car door handles, light switches, car steering wheels, computer key boards, etc;
* Disinfect knives, cutting boards, plates, etc that contact raw meat with dilute bleach;
* Eat only well-cooked meats – avoiding ceviche, sashimi/sushi, carne-crudo;
* Consider taking anti-parasite meds semi-annually if you live in the Tropics;
* Avoid restaurant salads in the Tropics;
* Street foods: eat basically sterile things – e.g. things that go straight from the hot oil into clean paper/plastic to your mouth – served by people who keep the cash handling separate from the food handling (cash is often filthy).
Much luck,
steve
One thing I have found that reduced my Montezuma’s revenge was to carry the anti-baterial hand wipes with me. After I handle money, I clean my hands as soon as I can. Before I eat, I also take out a handy dandy wipe and clean my hands and the space around my plate. You can use them to clean up before you get in the car and spread anything you got from the grocery store. Sams or Costco sell them in the boxes with several hundred per box.
Thanks for the excellent information. I have had salmonellas and/or amaebas twice a year for many years, usually after travelling or eating in a restaurtant. It could be a 5+ star restaurtant downto minus 5 stars. Same results. Have been using microdyne and husband says it doesn’t work so have discontinued all salads. Hope to be growing our own organic produce soon but will still have to disinfect with bleach. Also, does a spray or vinegar followed by drying and then a spray of H2O2 work for disinfecting?. Have had many anti-biotics, the only one seemimg to work on the salmonella has been Chloromycetin in huge doses. It works about 50 percent of the time, often leaving me with terrible digestion, candida etc. etc. I have taken many natural remedies which seems to be effective for a week or two. Oil of oregano, olive leaf extract, golden seal, , nutribiotic etc.Would appreciate any commentaries. Otherwise am very healthy with no medications even thoughI am nearer to 80 than 70 years old and still work etc. I appreciate your write-up-. thanks. Jeanne
+1
Hi Jeanne,
“. . . does a spray or vinegar followed by drying and then a spray of H2O2 work for disinfecting?.”
The vinegar helps a bit as a washing agent. Past studies have found scrubbing with a brush and good rinsing removes 97% of contaminants in fruits and veg, except for leafy vegetables like lettuce and spinach. Adding the peroxide spray would seem to help, but its efficacy depends on how concentrated the H2O2 is and the duration of contact time. Lettuce and spinach require special attention – separating each leaf – washing carefully, and then 10 – 15 minutes of contact time with the disinfectant.
Bacdyne, Microdyne, etc reduce pathogenic bacterial counts, but don’t have significant effects on various Salmonellas. Diluted bleach solutions seem to be the best documented disinfectants for lettuce and leafy veg.
Do you take Xantac, Prilosec, etc or anti-acids? Older people tend to produce a lot less stomach acid than younger folks, which leaves them more susceptible to GI infestations: only 1,000 salmonella units are reported to infect older people, while 1 million salmonella are required to infect a person with typical stomach acid levels.
If you do take stomach acid inhibitors/neutralizers, you may be increasing your GI infection risks, which could indicate that you might have to choose between leafy salads in restaurants and taking your stomach trouble medicines.
Hope this helps,
steve
Thanks for the extreme detail
My sister’s IBS turned out to be severe Blastocystis hominis. After rounds of drugs we turned to homeopathic remedies because of the side effects. Look into something called Para 90. It’s a combination of several herbs that drew the parasites right out within days. http://www.para90.com
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Dr. Fry,
Thank you for this incredibly helpful article (I read the later version at Yucatan Living).
I have physician friends in Guatemala who use a dilute iodine solution for vegetable washing. And of course, as a kid camping in the era before pumps, I used to use iodine tablets to purify water. I’ve looked online for references to compare bleach vs. iodine for vegetable rinsing but come up empty. Can you shed an light? Advantages and disadvantages? Thanks!
Hi Justin,
Bottom-line: Either Hydrogen Peroxide or Dilute bleach solutions or 5% Iodine** treatments are the only current vegetable/fruit soaking solutions that kill all the different types of Salmonella, Listeria, Amoeba, and some Hepatitis. Both bleach and iodine solutions do kill key species of Salmonella and Listeria. 5% Iodine solutions need to be used at **1-2 drops per liter of soaking solution, with 10 minutes of contact time – with NO DIRT – scrub off all dirt – and get the solution all over the lettuce or other leaves. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3100591
Neither of these 2 approaches kill Paramecia like Giardia or Cryptosporids – as these require boiling…
http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/travel/backcountry_water_treatment.html
“ Cryptosporidium oocysts were more difficult to inactivate. Only 10% were inactivated after a 20-minute exposure to iodine according to manufacturer’s instructions; even after 240 minutes of exposure to iodine only 66-81% oocysts were inactivated. These data strongly suggest that iodine disinfection is not effective in inactivating Cryptosporidium oocysts in water. Because this organism is common in all surface waters, it is recommended that another method of treatment be used before ingestion.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11990150
Both Bleach and Iodine seems like reasonable approaches, as long as there is NO dirt, and NO fecal contamination issues (Giaria & Cryptosporidia) from fertilizing gardens etc, especially from “organic” approaches that use human night-soil or pig waste.
steve
Bracing, but helpful. Thank you so much!!
Dr. Fry,
I’m back with another question! My family is in Lago de Atitlan now, putting all this into practice, and I have a question about washing vegetables. The other online sources I found, including the article you cite above, say to wash in 100 PPM hypochlorite. I think this would work out to roughly 1.5 tsp/gal, or roughly 8 ml / gal. of regular strength bleach, unless I messed up the math, which I may have.
You suggest 10 drops / liter, which is roughly 2 ml / gal, right (using a 20 drops / ml conversion which I found). Which seems lower than anyone else.
Can you shed any light on the discrepancy and which do you recommend?
Thanks!
Justin
Oh – and one other question. The houses where we live have non-disinfected lake water coming out of the tap. Any tips on best practices for hand-washing in that situation? I know hand-washing with soap and potentially contaminated water is better than nothing, but presumably we should do better than that? Just bite the bullet and wash with boiled or purified water? Or use alcohol gel after washing?
Thanks!
WHAT OPINION DO YOU HAVE OF THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT;
Common products used in Mexico are Microdyn and Bacdyn, both of which contain the active ingredient ionized silver (which I do not believe is the same thing as colloidal silver, but I am not a chemist), and both are equally effective. They are usually sold in grocery stores in the produce department and come in different sized bottles. North of the border, grapefruit seed extract is used, as well as other commercial products. A solution of Clorox (sodium hypochlorite) and water is effective, but a rinse with potable water is needed, plus chlorine has environmental issues. Microdyn and Bacdyn solutions don’t need to be rinsed off, a plus if you live in Mexico or another country where drinking water is purchased.
Hi Millie,
Every single reliable scientific study on Microdyn and Bacdyn prove that THEY DO NOT WORK ON KEY SALMONELLA strains and DO NOT WORK ON COMMON PATHOGENS on Mexican fruit and veg.
30 years of simple agar-plate tests by good laboratories have shown that treating water and treating fruits & veg with Microdyn and Bacdyn DOES NOT KILL key microbial pathogens leaving the fruit & veg risky to eat ~ NOT KILLING SALMONELLA … NOT KILLING TYPHOID … NOT KILLING FECAL Colforms (not killing pooh bacteria) when tested on real foods… and they also failed to kill enough pathogens in lab tests (using ideal conditions for the Microdyne & Bacdyn) leaving the food unsafe to eat.
Microdyn and Bacdyn do reduce the numbers of some microbes, but lab tests by CDC, by O’Horan, by UNAM, and many other hospitals and labs prove that … THEY DON’T WORK … to keep us from getting infected.
The only test results that show they work are bogus limited tests by the people selling the silver products => not reliable … not verified … giving the opposite results found by 30 years of professional evaluations.
One can also notice that “Bacdyn” and “Microdyn” use deceptive naming, to make it sound like they use a real antibiotic: iodine … even though they only use ineffective silver.
Keep it simple:
Dilute bleach solutions are GUARANTEED and PROVEN to work ~ leaving NO residues when used properly.
Iodine can also work, but I do not like the residual iodine taste … while the bleach concentrations are so much lower – and the very dilute bleach is very easy to rinse off. …
Happy Trails,
steve
When I first came to Mexico, I brought a military canteen and military style iodine pills. Later, I simply bought the iodine pills at Wal-mart. I would dip the canteen in the canal water and pop in an iodine pill, then wait a while before drinking. My wife would complain that when she looked in my canteen she could see gross things in there. I told her, “Protein!” Heh, heh.
She drank only boiled water. Then, I would put my canteen on my hip and walk down town for medicine. FOR HER.
My theory is the iodized water protected my stomach from the infections. I have no thyroid problems and don’t mind the taste. For short term visitors, this might be a health tip to try.
Supporting evidence came when we started living out here (third world village in the mountains) and I started drinking from the garafones. I also started getting stomach infections.
#####
Tip on stomach infections. Since stopping using iodine pills, I had a number of them. The longer you wait after your stomach starts gurgling in the middle of the night to take Bactrim, the longer it takes to cure it, but especially for salmonella.
Before they restricted antibiotics, I used to keep Bactrim on hand, and when my stomach started gurgling, I took two right away, then one every 8 hours. And, usually the problem was gone, same day.
My best friend is a doctor and he told me take one and one every 12 hours, and they seemed to do little good. Then, he told my wife who is very petite to take one and one every 12 hours. They are not taught in Mexico to dose by body weight. So, I doubled it and no more problems.
I still keep Bactrim on hand, but for legal reasons am not going to tell where I get the stuff legally in the USA.
If you have a good relationship with a US doctor and are only on a short visit to Mexico, some doctors have been known to give a vacation prescription to patients.
#####
Next tip. When you are taking antibiotics, you absolutely need probiotics. They are hard to find in Mexico. Wal-mart in Tehuacan says they are not available in their supply chain.
A pharmacist clerk I know in my village says she can get probiotics, but a three day supply costs 75 pesos.
OF course, if you are not sugar/carb restricted (as I am on Atkins) you can eat a cup or two a day of yogurt, available almost everywhere in Mexico, but I cannot find the sugar free stuff.
I report this from personal experience. I am still fighting off a very grave case of Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth, which eventually turned into acrodermatitis continua… (an autoimmune syndrome) from the mess in my intestines.
I knew I needed to take probiotics when I used antibiotics, but did not realize I might need to take it every day if there are repeated uses of antibiotics over a long period of time.
If you return to the States once in a while, Wal-mart sells freeze dried acidophilus probiotics in several strengths. They last a long time unopened and a long time in the fridge after opening. I am not recommending Wal-mart, except that is where I buy mine so I know their products.
A pharmacist clerk I know says she can get probiotics, but a three day supply costs 75 pesos. This is a bit steep for long-term use.
#####
Just for the record, information here comes from a doctor in the USA with whom I have a long-term personal relationship. He suggests what to try; I do then report back to him what happened.
I don’t have great confidence in most Mexican doctors, just like in the USA. Sorry but that’s how I feel about it.
Hey Guy,
As usual, you’ve offered a lot of all good things.
One sidelight: Your experience with taking a double-dose immediately to treat a GI infection is correct…
and has a name:
It’s called a flushing dose.
Since it takes time to build serum levels of antibiotics, it can help a lot to double the dose of common antibiotics for the first dose or even the first day.
Happy Holidays,
steve
Wow thanks so much for answering my inquiry. I can hardly believe I got an answer. Exciting! Thank you so much Millie.
Question about parasites & worms. Does Vermox Plus KILL the worms, or does it just prevent them? I’m unclear about what it means by creates a ‘hostile environment’ and whether that destroys eggs as well.
Hi Amelia,
There are no total “cure-alls”. at best, even Vermox Plus only claims 90% success rates on certain parasite species (at maximum).
Formal tests of Mexican children with real intestinal parasites, including worms and amoebas showed that the Vermox Plus formulation eradicated Ascaris lumbricoides worms in 69% of cases of kids with worms … while Vermox Plus worked better on a second group of Mexican kids with both worms and amoebas, eradicating worms in 79% of the kids …
(encouraging … but not perfect … results)
If you decide to go fishing with other drugs:
Consider a formal comparison of the 2 most common competing treatments for GI parasites: nitazoxanide VERSUS Vermox Plus (quinfamide + mebendazole).
“… A total of 275 infected children were enlisted in a double-blind controlled study and randomly assigned to one of 2 treatment groups: Group A, nitazoxanide (200 mg for 3 days) and Group B, quinfamide (100 mg for 1 day), mebendazole (200 mg for 3 days), or both. A posttreatment fecal examination was conducted on Day 14 from treatment initiation.
In Group A (nitazoxanide with n = 143), the parasitosis eradication rate was superior to that of Group B (Vermox Plus (quinfamide + mebendazole) with n = 132).
However, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups (P > 0.05). …”
So, in real-world testing of real people with real parasite infestations, the drugs only eradicate common parasitic worms in Mexico at about 70% of the cases …
Are you comfortable with trusting a 30% failure rate ?
???
steve
Hi Steve, what do you recommend for 100% success? I have been in Merida for 4 months and think I may be infected. I have no energy and tingling of limbs. I have taken o e doae of Vermpox plus.
Hi Nancy,
I would go see a physician.
Vermox Plus only eradicates ascarid worms about 60% – 70% of the time – so, if you have worms, Vermox may not have eliminated them.
An “O & P” lab test, (Ovos y Parásitos => “O y P”), repeated several times using different stool samples may help with the diagnosis – where it can take 2 or 3 different Egg & Parasite lab test samples to get a correct diagnosis (because not every stool sample has the eggs or parasites present => “false negatives” are common).
or … a good physician may identify some other cause,
steve
Thanks Steve, do you know a good physician?
Thanks for the excellent information. I have had salmonellas and/or amaebas twice a year for many years, usually after travelling or eating in a restaurtant. It could be a 5+ star restaurtant downto minus 5 stars. Same results. Have been using microdyne and husband says it doesn’t work so have discontinued all salads. Hope to be growing our own organic produce soon but will still have to disinfect with bleach. Also, does a spray or vinegar followed by drying and then a spray of H2O2 work for disinfecting?. Have had many anti-biotics, the only one seemimg to work on the salmonella has been Chloromycetin in huge doses. It works about 50 percent of the time, often leaving me with terrible digestion, candida etc. etc. I have taken many natural remedies which seems to be effective for a week or two. Oil of oregano, olive leaf extract, golden seal, , nutribiotic etc.Would appreciate any commentaries. Otherwise am very healthy with no medications even thoughI am nearer to 80 than 70 years old and still work etc. I appreciate your write-up-. thanks. Jeanne
+1
Hi Jeanne,
About 14 years ago, one researcher got excited about a lot of hype over vinegar + H202 (hydrogen peroxide) … but when they tested this combination: it only worked … partially … and the research dried up, as they went on to do research on other more-successful topics.
steve
Thanks for the information, Jeanne. I have lived in Mexico over 10 years without a problem. I know I couldn`t go this long witheating a salad so do disinfect anything we will eat raw. The thing I laugh at about this article though is the title…..as if this only happened in Mexico….I see everyday that many things are ^recalled^in the USA because of contamination….but people there do not have a clue as to how to treat their fruits and vegetables.
Hi Jeannie,
Most ordinary gringos are not aware of the risks that Mexico has…
(not common to the USA)
Forewarned is forearmed
(use knowledge to live better)
~ 15% of Mexican kids are permanent-asymptomatic salmonella carriers.
Yes, 1 in 6 Mexican kids tested as a part of a nationwide CDC + Mexican hospitals were found to be full-time salmonella carriers.
Do we really trust kids to NOT transmit their bugs… to us?
~ Consider Typhoid … and Tuberculosis …
in Mexico.
~ In many areas of Mexico, over 45% of the people… have NO bathrooms…
The hygiene issues & problems are often more serious here in Mexico, than in the USA.
*sigh*
steve
How is the best way to clean eggs in mexico
“Best” is in the eye of the beholder.
In the USA … commercially sold eggs are scrubbed & bleached – destroying egg’s natural “bloom” coating – meaning US commercial eggs must be refrigerated.
Alternately, consider freshly laid eggs. They feel a little wet. That is called “the bloom”. The bloom is a natural, anti-bacterial coating on the egg shell that acts as a protector for the inside of the egg, blocking external bacteria from getting inside the shell. The bloom is removed by scrubbing eggs with detergent solutions or by soaking in bleach solutions.
Without the bloom, chicken egg shells are full of exposed pores (tiny openings) that external bacteria use to enter the inside of the egg when we wash off the bloom.
Wet scrubbing of an egg with soap~detergent~bleach solutions removes some or all of the bloom.
For this reason, some people choose to only “dry clean” their typical Mexican eggs, using a paper towel, dry cloth, sandpaper, etc, Yet other people choose to clean their eggs with a damp cloth or paper towel. Still others clean their eggs under warm running water briefly, to avoid soaking them in water. Soaking eggs in water enhances bacteria’s chances of penetrating the shells.
For those who choose to Wash their eggs: Use warm water, not cold, because cold water causes the internal contents of the egg to contract~shrink~ causing a small internal vacuum to actively pull bacteria through the pores of the shell. Instead, a warm water rinae causes the contents of the egg to expand slightly against the shell, helping to prevent bacteria from entering through the shell.
Given those realities: What’s your ‘best’ choice?
steve
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Hi,
I’m sorry, but what does “NOB” mean? You’ve used it multiple times in this article but haven’t explained what it stands for.
NOB = North of the Border.
It’s a more genteel term than “Gringo-Landia” or “gringos” 😉
Literally NOB in Mexico refers to the USA & Canada.
Hi. My name is Luis QC. I am a researcher in science on Public Health. I am Mexican and got my M. in Science and PhD in UK. I have read some of your comments. I realized that you have been visiting or residing in Mexico for some time, and some of you are from the USA or another developed country. If you are not confident in Mexican doctors or Mexican Health Institutions, then I do not understand what you are doing here. Mexican doctors have the same or better training than “American” doctors. In addition, I have had bad experiences with “American” doctors. We are all humans, and we make mistakes. Also, I recognize that hygienic food control in Mexico could be better, but processed food or other food products marketed in the USA are not the most recommended to eat. Hundreds of research papers support the association between the consumption of processed food and chronic degenerative or cancer, two of the most common diseases in the USA and for which no treatment has been found. Otherwise, parasitic or bacterial infections can be treated.
Editor’s Notes:
~ I too am Mexican … as a citizen & Public Health scientist** … so … despite your racist comments and your excuses … Instead, as a fellow Mexican I am not leaving Mexico at your say-so, because, instead of running away like you, I prefer to simply work at improving things here
Readers can note that this is the opposite of Luis’s approach of making excuses … his telling others to run away … and so different from Luis QC’s creating coverups for the problems.
~ ~ ~ ~
Readers can also note a number of other facts outside of Luis’s excuses:
~ Is the quality of healthcare here in Merida that good,
when Rheumatologists prescribe medications banned by the FDA since1982 … especially when that horrible medication hospitalized my wife … resulting in a long difficult 6 month recovery?
~ Is the quality of healthcare here in Merida that good,
when 3 different medical errors by Merida’s “top” internists nearly killed my wife 3 times, hospitalizing her 4 different times?
~ Is the quality of healthcare here in Merida that good,
when Merida internists quicky (in 5 minutes with no test resultsmisdiagnose my wifes simple dehydration – as a supposed full blown Lupus event … where they gave my wife a toxic dose of 2000 mg of Prednisone and a simultaneous cocktail of 5 different harsh antibiotics … for SIMPLE DEHYDRATION ?
~ Is the quality of healthcare here in Merida that good:
when 5 different bright young medical students (our tenants from other parts of Mexico) describe many many Merida physicians as”dinosaurs” … who insist on using old long out-of-date medical procedures from the 1970’s & 1980’s … esp in Obstetrics & Gynecology?
~ Is the quality of healthcare here in Merida that good:
when one of Merida’s supposed top vascular physicians cut off 3 cm too much of my wife’s tibia, when amputating her foot for a necrotic toe, leaving the stub – muñon … too short for a good prosthesis. … 4 different prosthesis specialists have all confirmed the same totally unnecessary error-problem.
and the assisting surgeon in the OR during the surgery … also confirmed that this supposed top Merida surgeon removed far too much bone, but the Medical culture here is so top-down, arbitrarily dominated by more “senior” physicians.
~ Fortunately, while Merida Physicians are very-good at plumbing & carpentry (orthopedics and cardiac surgeries) – esp. when reconstructing broken bones, driving screws, attaching cables, installing metal plates, and driving rods into bones.
Yet… As a Ph.D Doctor of Public Health, I am sure that “reasearcher” Luis QC, knows more that either my Yucatecan Ph.D Virologist wife or I know. … As my Yucatecan wife coincidentally was the founder of Mexico’s first Dengue lab … founded Mexico’s first Biosafety Level 3 Lab … and grew & directed Merida’s biggest laboratory at UADY … she knows much less than newbie “researcher” Luis QC.
So, no … As a part of the family that founded Sidra Pino … as a part of the family that built the Cancun-Merida Tollway … as a part of a family with 250 yr old deep roots here in Yucatan … we will not be leaving Merida based on the advice of a “researcher in Public Health”
Dr. Steven M. Fry
Ph.D. in Chemistry, Public Health & Environmental Health