Holiday in Egypt

Question

Dear expert team,
as I am thinking of going on holiday in Egypt as a CF patient, the following questions:
1. Which areas in Egypt do you recommend?
2. Which precautions are necessary before the holiday (vaccinations etc.?)
3. Which CF centers are there in Egypt?
4. Are in Egypt in case of need drugs available via pharmacies without problems?
5. Which kind of accomodation, also from the hygiene point of view, do you recommend (hotel? appartment? etc).
I will be happy to hear from you

Answer

Hello,

1. Travels to Egypt are done for sure mostly with the aim, to see the magnificent monuments of the past, probably in combination with a cruise on the Nile river. If such a travel comes into question for you, does depend on the underlying conditions: your personal health status, geography and seasons and the linked climatic conditíons, if you travel with a company or self-organized, the quality of accomodations, the condition of the used means of traffic etc. Therefore general recommendations can hardly be made. In the internet, e.g. in Wikipedia or in the internet page of the Federal Foreign Office, you find detailed information about Egypt, climate included. A marked desert climate or also a humid-hot climate can be a problem for all people, especially, however, for patients with CF. Therefore we recommend to you to get in contact with your physician concerning your conrete planning of the journey as soon as possible.

2. The website of the Federal Foreign Office in Germany (www.auswaertiges-amt.de) informs in detail about vaccinations, entry requirements, medical care, general risks, rules of behaviour etc. in case of a journey to Egypt and give links to tropical medicine informations. Please talk with your physician if e.g. the recommended vaccinations respectively medical circumstances could cause problems for you.

3. CF-knowledge in Egypt is limited. The internet appearance of the worldwide organization Cystic Fibrosis Worldwide, www.CFWW.org, gives a link to the Chest Unit, Cairo University Children's Hospital. However the CFW-website is converted at the moment, so that the link did not function. Please address concerning the address directly to the manageress, Christine Nokes.

4. The Federal Foreign Office writes, that in Cairo there would be an sufficient medical care, outside of Cairo, also in the main tourist centers, the care would not be equal to the western European standard. To get special CF-drugs is probably rather difficult in all regions. An abroad health insurance with the option of being transported back is very advisable. A sufficent stock of drugs should be taken with oneself. A document from your physician in charge concerning all drugs that have to be taken into the foreign country and all assistance material (syringes!!) in english, probably also in Arabic, would be for sure helpful. A great German automobile-club offers a forwarding service for lost drugs abroad that have to be prescribed.

5. This question cannot be answered in general, as the respective hygiene depends on the standard of the choosen accomodation. This is true for appartments as well as for hotels.

The expert team of ECORN-CF is working out a consensus at the moment on the topic "travelling", which will be published probably in the spring-time 2010.
I wish you much joy with the planning and a nice journey.
Yours sincerely,
Birgit Dembski

05.11.2009