The Myth of Supermen

Today's travelers make the frequent association that because many local peoples they encounter do not take the same health precautions as recommended for travelers that either these risks are over exaggerated or that these local people have a “natural immunity” to disease.

In fact many people living in the developing world do suffer terribly from infectious diseases but lack the resources to prevent or treat them.

Travelers typically do not spend much time with the very poor and this largely goes unnoticed.

Also on return we North Americans are much more aggressive in looking for and treating conditions that would largely go unnoticed in poorer countries.

Although many Africans do have a” partial immunity” to malaria it 2 million children die yearly from malaria.

One study in newcomers to Katmandu observed that the average tourist would get significant diarrhea 12-14 times per year but after living there for over a year this would typically go down to 3-4 times per year. Some but not complete resistance develops with repeat exposures but clearly good hygiene is best for everyone!

Mountain porters are frequently looked upon as untiring beasts of burden that will tirelessly and enthusiastically carry any bag a tourist brings.

During an expedition to a remote village in rural Nepal I was a little dismayed when I realized that our porters made up about a third of all our patient visits with aches and pains mostly related to bringing in all the medical supplies!

Their stoicism vanished when it was their turn to be seen in the clinic!

Interesting the guidebook to this region described the porters as large men (and suggested that these large towering men were rumored to be partially descended from Yeti) yet all the men I treated were clean-shaven and under 5 feet.

With the amount of deforestation happening it was doubtful there was room for even a snow leopard let alone a yeti to hide. The reality was that these porters had hard lives and were very dependant on tourists to support their families.

Many “Sherpa porters” are not actually Sherpas and have an increased predisposition to injury in the mountains from lack of skills and equipment. They may imitate being Sherpas to get work.

People in the tourist service industry will frequently go out of their way to do a little extra service for the paying tourist even if it means risking their health. This is all too frequently happening and one porter death is written in John Kraukauer's book, Into Thin Air.

To combat this destructive trend, my Australian colleague Dr Trish Batchelor was recently in Canada to promote the International Porter Protection Group ( www.ippg.net ), which is dedicated to educating the public about the conditions of porters. She is looking for doctors to help volunteer at their rescue post for porters in Machermo, Nepal (near Everest) from Sept- Nov; and March to May.