Sick in Mexico?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never gotten sick in Mexico but would never take kids under 10 there. If something happens the medical care won't be good. Not worth the risk

PP here. Again, I'm an expat living in Mexico. In some places, medical care is actually far better than in the U.S. Lots of misinformation floating around on this thread...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nope. Not worth it. Pass.

This, plus I woudlnt exactly consider it a safe place to go.

[Anonymous]

I have never gotten sick but I'd hesitate to bring a very young child with a developing immune system. Also, I don't go anymore because I'm worried about safety. A good friend of mine was roughed up by a local at a popular resort. So scary!

[Anonymous]

I've been a dozen times in the last 5 years-mostly to the Riviera Maya/Tulum area. I got sick once - we were in San Miguel (central Mex) and staying in a villa versus resort - I was pregnant and received amazing care from an excellent Mexican-German doctor who was trained in Germany. My children have never gotten sick there - but with them we've stuck to higher end resorts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Mexico and got sick by staying at an all-inclusive. Didn't drink the local water, but got exposed somehow.

If you can reasonably explain to your 2-year-old that you have a different approach (when we brush teeth, we'll use this water) to things than you do at home, then maybe it would be okay.

But honestly, it'd be easier to go somewhere where you don't have to worry about things like water.

+1

Same thing happened to me. Two days in bed, horrible vomiting and diarrhea.

[Anonymous]

I got sick. I washed my hands at the airport then ate a snack (with my hands). Went to nice resort. Sick For 3 days -- luckily it's not uncomfortable, it's just constant bathroom time...

I got sicker in Costa Rica than Mexico. I got a parasite because I thought I was so clever drinking a tap soda (not from bottle - turns out it was tap water with sugar) at a roadside stand. It took months for us doctors to figure it out - they kept telling me it was IBS..nope, a worm...(If I sought medical treatment in CR, they probably would have caught it immediately).

[Anonymous]

I got very sick. I believe it was from some salsa because I was very careful other than when I slipped and ate that. I made it back to the US but I was hospitalized for three days upon return for dehydration. Hospitals diagnosis was salmonella. I'll never go back. Too many other places in the world to go and not have to worry about getting sick like that again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Got sick from the food, not water, and got really sick like i shat myself in the cancun airport- bad.

My daughter shat herself in an airport too. She had a sharting incident. I dug through her bag, got her clean underwear out, we shoved it in her kangaroo pocket and I sent her off to the bathroom to throw out the old underwear and put on the new ones. On her way to the bathroom she threw up on the floor. She came back to me with some strange man trailing her, and he was like "Um, your daughter just threw up...." and I said "Okay thanks" and then asked her "Did you complete your mission?" because I didn't want to embarrass her in front of the guy. She said no so I sent her back to the bathrooms. The guy looked at me like I was the world's worst mother.

DD and I laugh about it now, that she always keeps a pair of backup panties in her carryon just in case.

[Anonymous]

My kids and I eat street tacos in Baja California almost every week and have never gotten sick. As others have pointed out, where in Mexico you are going could make a difference.

[Anonymous]

I've gotten sick once in Latin America. However, it was from unpasteurized dairy not water. And that was out of dozens of trips and stays.

[Anonymous]

OP here, I was thinking about a resort in the Riviera Maya area. I am thinking it may not be worth the worry to go to Mexico at this point, and save it for when she's older. There are a lot of other Caribbean resorts we can go to with less chance of illness. I know there's always a chance, but I'd rather go somewhere I won't have to worry about her drinking the bath water by accident, eating with her hands, etc.

[Anonymous]

Went to Cancun last April with two 6 year olds and a 2 year old. We stayed at an all inclusive and though the 2 year old refused to eat or drink much, she still ended up sick. I'm still not sure what caused it.

[Anonymous]

You won't get any sicker in Mexico than Jamaica imo...some people just have really weak stomachs and get sick no matter what they do. I've been all over and the only place I've ever been sick so far was in Bangladesh for ~24 hours period because of some fruit off a street vendor. We did Mexico last year, had a great time and stayed at a really amazing all inclusive resort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You won't get any sicker in Mexico than Jamaica imo...some people just have really weak stomachs and get sick no matter what they do. I've been all over and the only place I've ever been sick so far was in Bangladesh for ~24 hours period because of some fruit off a street vendor. We did Mexico last year, had a great time and stayed at a really amazing all inclusive resort.

The reason I'm worried is because I've been to Jamaica and several other Caribbean islands and have never been sick, except in DR, where it is known to avoid water. Resort or not didn't seem to matter before when I traveled.