Germs Are Good For You

Before we moved here we did quite a bit of research on what vaccines we needed and which medicines to bring with us so we could be prepared for just about any situation.  We were vaccinated for Hepatitis A, Meningitis, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever and brought a whole medicine cabinet with us (thank you Lee!).  Once here, we decided not to take any anti-malarials (malarone, larium, doxycycline) and generally pack a few doses worth of medicine to deal with amoebas, tapeworm, allergic reactions, etc. when we travel. We also carry hand sanitizer every day in case we are feeling particularly dirty (though Lucy is more diligent with it than I am).

Thankfully our medical record has been pretty good here as we have only had a handful of bouts with stomach issues (me more so than Lucy since I tend to venture into the huge racks of roasted meat more often or Nyama Choma as they say in Kenya) and nothing that required more than 48 hours of misery, dozens of Tums, and an occasional Cipro. Lucy also had an allergic reaction to something (craw daddies maybe?) in Uganda one weekend but that settled down after a bit.

More impressively, Lucy's perpetual runny nose and congestion has been virtually non-existent here, largely because her students are not as sickly as they were in Harlem, we are getting more sleep than we used to, and it just isn't cold here. Considering how "unclean" everything is here (quality control on the dish cleaning is particularly poor and to say that dirt is prevalent is not doing it justice...oh yeah, they only have leaded fuel here), it is quite remarkable that this has been one of our healthiest years on record.

That being said, pretty much everyone we know here who travels back to the U.S. gets a cold/flu for the first two weeks back. We will have to see if we can avoid this fate.

An article in the WSJ (WSJ: Can Dirt Do a Little Good?) sparked me writing about our medical record since it discusses some studies about the prevalence of different medical issues in the developed and developing world.  Pretty interesting stuff...

Also, Lucy cuts my hair here every few months.  The clippers I brought with me met their end around Christmas (they were at least 10 years old) but thankfully a friend was able to bring me a new set (with new features!).  Lucy does an excellent job and is becoming quite the stylist.  She also usually has some help from guest advisors like our guard Frank.