Vaccinations and Other Precautions
OK, so maybe you won't come down with giardiasis, cyclosporiasis, onchocerciasis, or leishmaniasis. Maybe you'll be spared the unpleasantness of tuberculosis, shigellosis, even cryptosporidiosis. And perhaps you don't have to worry about leptospirosis, coccidioidomycosis, or histoplasmosis. But how do you really know?

The world we inhabit is not exactly a sanitary place, and in fact it's home to a variety of microorganisms that are just waiting for the chance to smack your immune system around a bit. Worse, the danger isn't just in "exotic" places; even in some of world's more manicured countries, you can pick up things like Lyme disease, rabies, hantavirus, mad cow disease, or that old favorite, the Plague. So what are you, in your bright-eyed state of wanderlust, supposed to do?