The Bug!

Before we left San Antonio, we were advised to be careful about what we eat and drink:
- Don’t drink water unless it is bottled, and make sure you crack the seal when unscrewing the top to be reasonably sure the bottle has not been refilled
- It is okay to eat at the hotel
- Do not eat food from street vendors
- Do not use ice (since we don’t know the origin of the water used to make it)
- Use bottled water when brushing teeth
- Do not eat raw vegetables or fruits
- Do not drink liquids from open containers unless we have seen the containers being opened
- Be careful with milk and milk products since the pasteurization process is not to the same standard as in the United States (I don’t put milk in my coffee)

With this guidance, we are trying to be careful about what we ingest, probably more careful than we really need to be. But the horror stories we hear make us tend to stay on the very cautious side. We have heard about diarrhea, vomiting, and general overall feeling of illness. We were also advised to bring Tums, Pepto-Bismol, Alka Seltzer, and other similar medicines. We even have the number of a local doctor if these medications don’t work fast enough.

Every time we eat, regardless of the location, the thought remains in the back of our minds about the consequences of choosing the wrong foods. We also try to keep mental notes about what we eat each day so that if something does make us sick, we can trace our steps and try to determine the offending foods. In San Antonio, the expectation was set that each one of us will be sick at least one day of our trip. We also heard that it can take a couple of days before the foods cause illness.

Well Saturday morning after one week in Chennai, our group experienced its first illness. We have all eaten at the same locations together although we do not always order the same entrée. The ill person was a member of our party who has been here several times before. He was with us Friday evening when we went to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Little Italy. I actually had a salad made up of sliced tomatoes, avocado, olive oil, and spices. I didn’t get sick with the raw vegetables. All the others had pastas of some sort. I had bottled water. Others had canned sodas. One of us even had iced tea although he was not the person who got sick. So the offending food has not yet been determined.

He was very lethargic and felt ill but he continued to stay with us as we went sightseeing, but he was definitely not the life of the party. He did not eat much Sunday either, and still felt ill. Today, Monday, he had breakfast but he says he still is not 100%. Yesterday, another one of our group had an “episode”, but after the “explosion”, he felt better. He and I had lunch at a pizza restaurant earlier in the day. He had a traditional cheese and pepperoni pizza and I had a creation that was more Indian flavored. It had slices of some kind of local cheese, and sliced tomatoes, and red sauce that was very good but VERY spicy. We both had canned diet sodas. He got sick, I did not. Today, another one of our group started hitting the Tums, and late in the day she started feeling feverish.

So I am sure my time is coming. Until then, I will continue to try the local cuisine but I will generally follow the guidelines provided in San Antonio. At this point, I really miss my bowl of oatmeal or Cheerios in the morning. And I miss ice in my drinks because unless you ask for chilled cans of soda, they are usually served at room temperature.