Archives for September 10th, 2007

Ljubljana last week, during yet another Q fever outbreak. [source]

If you’re coming to Slovenia from the United States, what medical precautions should you take? I would say none. I certainly didn’t. But that’s not what this site thinks. Looking through their warnings, I can’t believe I was stupid enough to just hop on a plane and travel to a country ridden with hepatitis A, measles, mumps, rubella, tick-borne encephalitis, Q fever, Lyme disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (”mad cow disease”), and traveler’s diarrhea. You can find all of these horrible things, and more, in the average horse burger this country called Slovenia.

It’s a crazy list. Not that it’s necessarily inaccurate (although it does forget to mention the recent bird-flu outbreak) but because it’s pointlessly terrifying. It sounds like the country is a public-health disaster. I mean, “Perform a thorough tick check at the end of each day with the assistance of a friend or a full-length mirror”? “Do not ride on motorcycles”? “Abstain from beef while in Europe or eat only solid pieces of muscle meat, such as steak, rather than products like sausage or chopped meat that might be contaminated”?

I’ve got an even better idea: Buy a big plastic bubble, put yourself in it, and then roll your ass around Slovenia without any concerns. Make sure you sterilize yourself first. And bring an extra bubble in case you pop the original one. Slovenia has many rocks, some of them dangerously sharp.

(Thanks Grega!)