Re: [Debconf-discuss] Mexican water
Hi Erinn,
Erinn Clark dijo [Mon, Apr 17, 2006 at 11:56:41AM -0400]:
> I've looked around a bit, but I can't seem to find anything on the dc6
> website or wiki pages that mention the dangers of drinking tap water in
> Mexico. I went to my doctor who gave me a prescription for Cipro
> (associated anthrax jokes are not clever) in case I come close to dying
> from e. coli, but I'd really prefer to avoid getting sick in the first
> place.
>
> So:
>
> Do we need to brush our teeth with bottled water?
Water is not recommended to be directly drinked (drank? whatever :) ),
but you can be sure it is not _that_ bad. Water gets purified. I have
never seen anybody wash their teeth with bottled water. At home, we
boil water for ~20 minutes if it is for drinking (or buy it bottled,
of course). You should be careful when eating in the street, probably
you will not be too happy eating at the open-air market (although you
should ;-) it's well worth it). But you don't _drink_ the water you
brush with, do you?
> How will the vegans/vegetarians manage to avoid getting sick? It is my
> understanding that eating fruits and vegetables that have been washed in
> tap water is going to probably make us all violently ill.
Hey, we non-vegetarians like to wash our fruit as well! :) We have
24h medical service 200m away, so you will most probably not die. If
you don't eat washed fruit, well, we are in a chicken-and-egg
situation :)
> How long does it take for people to get used to the new bacteria?
Well, a lifetime? We are not used to the bacteria, we are used to
being careful. Every now and then we also get sick. And so do you,
with the Florida bacteria ;-)
> I'm sure I can think of more questions, but this is all I've got for
> now.
In any case... We can only speak from experience. I have received a
number of foreigners, and none of them has died yet. But if you want
to be extra-careful (think Michael Jackson), you can always go over
our recommendations :)
Just to wrap this up: This is, yes, a third-world country. We are,
however, not _that_ bad. I recommend everybody just not to drink tap
water - but other than that, no need to be paranoid.
Greetings,
--
Gunnar Wolf - gwolf@gwolf.org - (+52-55)5623-0154 / 1451-2244
PGP key 1024D/8BB527AF 2001-10-23
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