Health & Safety

Staying Healthy

Staying healthy during a trip to Eastern Europe requires common sense and an ounce of prevention. No vaccinations are necessary to visit Eastern Europe and digestive upsets are visitors' biggest health challenges. It is safest to stick with bottled water everywhere.

General Availability of Healthcare

Hospitals and pharmacies are available in all Eastern European countries, but the quality of treatments and drugs varies widely, even within a single country. Consult individual country chapters for specific information.

If you plan to visit forested areas in the summer or if you choose to consume unpasteurized dairy products, you put yourself at risk for tick-borne infections. According for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), tick-borne encephalitis, a viral infection of the central nervous system, has been reported in Russia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia, so take precautions against tick bites if you visit these countries.

In general, the CDC warns travelers not to eat food purchased from street vendors or undercooked food to reduce risk of hepatitis A and typhoid fever. Do not drink beverages with ice if the water supply is suspect. Avoid unpasteurized dairy products. Don't swim in fresh water to avoid exposure to waterborne diseases. Don't handle animals, especially monkeys, dogs, and cats, to avoid bites and rabies and plague. Do not share needles for tattoos, body piercing, or injections. HIV and hepatitis B are global hazards. Avoid poultry farms, bird markets, and other places where live poultry is raised or kept.

Contact the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT) (tel. 716/754-4883, or 416/652-0137 in Canada; www.iamat.org) for tips on travel and health concerns in the countries you're visiting, and for lists of local, English-speaking doctors. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (tel. 800/311-3435; www.cdc.gov) provides up-to-date information on health hazards by region or country and offers tips on food safety. The website www.tripprep.com, sponsored by a consortium of travel-medicine practitioners, may also offer helpful advice on traveling abroad. You can find listings of reliable clinics overseas at the International Society of Travel Medicine (www.istm.org).

What to Do if You Get Sick Away From Home

If you suffer from a chronic illness, consult your doctor before your departure. Pack prescription medications in your carry-on luggage, and carry them in their original containers, with pharmacy labels -- otherwise they won't make it through airport security. Carry the generic name of prescription medicines, in case a local pharmacist is unfamiliar with the brand name. Have prescriptions translated into the local language before you leave home.

For travel abroad, you may have to pay all medical costs upfront and be reimbursed later. See "Medical Insurance," under "Insurance,".

Staying Safe

The U.S. Department of State's Consular Information Program provides Consular Information Sheets, Travel Warnings, and Public Announcements. Travel Warnings are issued when the State Department recommends that Americans avoid travel to a certain country. Public Announcements are issued as a means to disseminate information quickly about terrorist threats and other relatively short-term conditions that pose significant risks to the security of American travelers. Free copies of this information are available by calling the Bureau of Consular Affairs at tel. 202-647-5225 or via the fax-on-demand system: tel. 202/647-3000. Consular Information Sheets and Travel Warnings also are available on the Consular Affairs Internet home page at http://travel.state.gov.

Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia are generally safe for tourists, though you should exercise the same caution you would in any unfamiliar city and always be aware of your surroundings when walking in less trafficked areas or at night.

Bulgaria, Romania, and Russia are less safe and visitors should take precautions to keep their valuables secure from pickpockets and others who prey on the unaware in major cities. Corruption is widespread in these developing countries and visitors should be skeptical about policemen who stop you and demand payment for fines levied for bogus charges. If you are confronted with a policeman demanding cash on the spot to pay a fine assessed for an alleged infraction, you should insist on going to the nearest police station to pay. But even before you go out, put jewelry and laptops in the hotel safe if you will be gone for the day and don't need them. Never leave any valuables or documents, including passports, in your hotel room when you are gone.

Dealing With Discrimination

Discrimination in Romania is usually reserved for members of the Roma minority (Gypsies) and for children with HIV. Bulgaria is slowly coming into compliance with E.U. antidiscrimination guidelines, but it, too, denies equal treatment to Roma (and women in general). The Russian constitution states that everyone is equal before the law and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, or language, but there is no provision for punishment of anyone who breaks the law. In Russia, most discrimination is aimed at former Soviet citizens and select minorities, including the Roma. In the other Eastern European countries covered in this book, discrimination is largely based on internal conflicts and aimed at ethnic groups within the various countries.

Eco-Tourism

You can find ecofriendly travel tips, statistics, and touring companies and associations -- listed by destination under "Travel Choice" -- at the TIES website, www.ecotourism.org. Ecotravel.com is part online magazine and part ecodirectory that lets you search for touring companies in several categories (water-based, land-based, spiritually oriented, and so on). Also check out Conservation International (www.conservation.org), which, with National Geographic Traveler, annually presents World Legacy Awards (www.wlaward.org) to those travel tour operators, businesses, organizations, and places that have made a significant contribution to sustainable tourism.