Health in Egypt: Jabs, Water, Heat and Help

Jabs

From Europe, North America, Australia and most of Asia, no vaccination is legally required to enter Egypt. You need a yellow fever certificate only if you arrive from a country where it is actively spreading.

Advised: hepatitis A and typhoid, plus up-to-date tetanus, diphtheria, polio and MMR. For longer stays, or if you will be near animals, hepatitis B and rabies too.

See a travel clinic six to eight weeks before departure.

Drinking water

Don't drink from the tap. Bottled water is sold everywhere for almost nothing, and we hand it out on every tour.

Ice in hotels and good restaurants is made with filtered water and is safe; be more careful at street stalls.

Cleaning your teeth with tap water is generally fine, and most people do.

Upset stomachs

As common here as anywhere travellers go. To keep the odds on your side:

• Eat where food moves fast — a busy koshary counter beats a quiet buffet.
• Food cooked hot, to order, is the safest.
• Take care with raw salad and unpeeled fruit away from good restaurants.
• Pack rehydration salts; they do more good than any pill.

The heat

This is the thing most likely to ruin a day, and people constantly underestimate it. In a Luxor summer you can lose two litres an hour without realising.

Sip all the time instead of waiting to feel thirsty, add electrolytes, wear a brimmed hat, start early, and rest from 12 to 3.

Pharmacies

Excellent, everywhere, inexpensive and open late. Most medicines are sold without a prescription, and pharmacists are well trained and usually speak English.

Hospitals

Private hospitals in Cairo, Alexandria, Hurghada and Sharm are good. In Cairo, foreigners usually go to Cleopatra Hospital or As-Salam International.

Most want payment or proof of insurance before treatment — which is why insurance matters.

Insurance

You arrange it, and you should. Check it covers medical care and repatriation, any diving you intend to do (many policies exclude diving or limit the depth), and cancellation.

Divers

Recompression chambers are nearest in Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab, Hurghada and Marsa Alam. Make sure your insurance covers the depth you plan to dive, and leave 24 hours between your last dive and flying.

Our emergency number

__PHONE__ — 24 hours, answered by a person in Cairo. If something goes wrong medically while you are travelling with us, call this first: we know which hospital to send you to.