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CNN Live Saturday

Interview with Dana Dickey

Aired October 18, 2003 - 12:48   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, no matter what the destination, every traveler should be concerned about safe and healthy trips. And there's plenty to be careful about, including jet lag, SARS, flu, deep vein thrombosis, and more. Here to discuss staying safe and healthy on the road is the senior editor of "Conde Nast Traveler Magazine," Dana Dickey.
It makes you not want to travel thinking about those things, Dana.

What can people do -- let's start with thrombosis. What can folks do to minimize the problems they could have with veins in their legs?

DANA DICKEY, CONDE NAST TRAVELER MAG.: It's DVT or deep vein thrombosis, as you said. This is when blood clots in the legs can travel to the lungs and can cause death. Signs include swelling, redness, pain. And it's from long haul flights. You're especially at risk if you're a smoker, if you take birth control pills, or have had recent surgery.

KOPPEL: I can ad one more to that. My doctor tells me if you're pregnant as well, you need to make sure to get up and walk around the plane if you're on a long flight. What about once an hour?

DICKEY: That's right, every hour you should walk around. If you're on a long haul flight, before you take this flight you should consult your physician if you're in one of these risk groups and perhaps you can wear special support hosiery to avoid swelling.

KOPPEL: With winter around the corner and of course flu season. I know we haven't been talking about SARS recently, but that certainly should be on everyone's agenda depending upon where they travel.

What can folks do to try to prevent from coming down with some kind of flu symptoms?

DICKEY: It's great that you brought up SARS. These day, if you have a flu and you're flying, you might elicit more suspicion than sympathy if you're coughing and this sort of behavior. What you do is basically get your flu shot this year. Or you could try Flu Mist, the recently FDA approved nasal flu vaccine for people between ages of 5 and 49.

KOPPEL: Something I thought that was interesting in reading up ahead of this interview was how to prevent and how to recover from jet lag, which obviously isn't nearly as serious as SARS or even the flu.

DICKEY: No, but it could ruin your travel experience if you're jet lagged. Basically, a study that was recently published in Medical Journals suggests it's the temperature of the brain which leads to jet lag. Because your brain cools down at night and tells you to go to sleep, heats up during the day when you're active. So, this is why exercise and saunas are two recommended antidotes to that feeling of jet lag, because they heat your brain.

KOPPEL: Right, and also a hot bath, I read. That's also interesting. Simple to do. In terms of trying to prevent against any kind of bite from a mosquito, which can carry any number of diseases, what are some of the tips you can offer people on that?

DICKEY: Yes, you're right. A mosquito bite can lead to everything from malaria to yellow fever, dange (ph) fever. So it's really best to first consult the World Health Organization or centers for Center for Disease Control Web sites to see what vaccines you should have. To any traveler, make sure you have a repellent that has 30 percent deet in it. That's been proven to really keep away the most mosquitoes.

KOPPEL: Well, since we're going to run down or at least mention one of the things that you recommend that people keep in a first aid kit that they bring along with them, why don't you mention some of the others that people could just pack and keep with them, probably in their carry-on luggage?

DICKEY: That's right, you should have basically the most important remedies in your medicine cabinet. You should, bring smaller sizes of those when you travel. For example, you want to have something for intestinal upset. Because for example, the CDC says as many as 10 million international travelers come home with diarrhea or experience some sort of diarrhea, versus in 2001, only 700 cases of malaria. So really, you want your Pepto Bismol as much as any vaccine. Also, just things you would expect. You want a sort of anti-bacterial ointment in case you get a cuts. And you want band- aids, and something people forget, sunscreen. There's nothing that can ruin the last half of your holiday besides having a terrible third degree burn from falling asleep on the beach or in your chair.

KOPPEL: Great tips. I guess the motto should be, when you travel, it's better safe than sorry.

Dana Dickey, with "Conde Nast Traveler" thank you so much for coming in today.

DICKEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 18, 2003 - 12:48   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: Well, no matter what the destination, every traveler should be concerned about safe and healthy trips. And there's plenty to be careful about, including jet lag, SARS, flu, deep vein thrombosis, and more. Here to discuss staying safe and healthy on the road is the senior editor of "Conde Nast Traveler Magazine," Dana Dickey.
It makes you not want to travel thinking about those things, Dana.

What can people do -- let's start with thrombosis. What can folks do to minimize the problems they could have with veins in their legs?

DANA DICKEY, CONDE NAST TRAVELER MAG.: It's DVT or deep vein thrombosis, as you said. This is when blood clots in the legs can travel to the lungs and can cause death. Signs include swelling, redness, pain. And it's from long haul flights. You're especially at risk if you're a smoker, if you take birth control pills, or have had recent surgery.

KOPPEL: I can ad one more to that. My doctor tells me if you're pregnant as well, you need to make sure to get up and walk around the plane if you're on a long flight. What about once an hour?

DICKEY: That's right, every hour you should walk around. If you're on a long haul flight, before you take this flight you should consult your physician if you're in one of these risk groups and perhaps you can wear special support hosiery to avoid swelling.

KOPPEL: With winter around the corner and of course flu season. I know we haven't been talking about SARS recently, but that certainly should be on everyone's agenda depending upon where they travel.

What can folks do to try to prevent from coming down with some kind of flu symptoms?

DICKEY: It's great that you brought up SARS. These day, if you have a flu and you're flying, you might elicit more suspicion than sympathy if you're coughing and this sort of behavior. What you do is basically get your flu shot this year. Or you could try Flu Mist, the recently FDA approved nasal flu vaccine for people between ages of 5 and 49.

KOPPEL: Something I thought that was interesting in reading up ahead of this interview was how to prevent and how to recover from jet lag, which obviously isn't nearly as serious as SARS or even the flu.

DICKEY: No, but it could ruin your travel experience if you're jet lagged. Basically, a study that was recently published in Medical Journals suggests it's the temperature of the brain which leads to jet lag. Because your brain cools down at night and tells you to go to sleep, heats up during the day when you're active. So, this is why exercise and saunas are two recommended antidotes to that feeling of jet lag, because they heat your brain.

KOPPEL: Right, and also a hot bath, I read. That's also interesting. Simple to do. In terms of trying to prevent against any kind of bite from a mosquito, which can carry any number of diseases, what are some of the tips you can offer people on that?

DICKEY: Yes, you're right. A mosquito bite can lead to everything from malaria to yellow fever, dange (ph) fever. So it's really best to first consult the World Health Organization or centers for Center for Disease Control Web sites to see what vaccines you should have. To any traveler, make sure you have a repellent that has 30 percent deet in it. That's been proven to really keep away the most mosquitoes.

KOPPEL: Well, since we're going to run down or at least mention one of the things that you recommend that people keep in a first aid kit that they bring along with them, why don't you mention some of the others that people could just pack and keep with them, probably in their carry-on luggage?

DICKEY: That's right, you should have basically the most important remedies in your medicine cabinet. You should, bring smaller sizes of those when you travel. For example, you want to have something for intestinal upset. Because for example, the CDC says as many as 10 million international travelers come home with diarrhea or experience some sort of diarrhea, versus in 2001, only 700 cases of malaria. So really, you want your Pepto Bismol as much as any vaccine. Also, just things you would expect. You want a sort of anti-bacterial ointment in case you get a cuts. And you want band- aids, and something people forget, sunscreen. There's nothing that can ruin the last half of your holiday besides having a terrible third degree burn from falling asleep on the beach or in your chair.

KOPPEL: Great tips. I guess the motto should be, when you travel, it's better safe than sorry.

Dana Dickey, with "Conde Nast Traveler" thank you so much for coming in today.

DICKEY: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com