{"id":18920,"date":"2012-07-25T13:37:27","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T12:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=18920"},"modified":"2012-07-25T13:37:27","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T12:37:27","slug":"david-kerr-welcoming-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2012\/07\/25\/david-kerr-welcoming-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"David Kerr: Welcoming the world"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/site\/blog\/icons\/david_kerr.jpg\" alt=\"David Kerr\" width=\"160\" height=\"126\" align=\"left\" \/>Over the next few weeks more than 14 000 athletes from 205 Olympic teams and 170 paralympic teams, and 4 million spectators are expected to attend the London 2012 Olympic Games. For the athletes the British Olympic committee has advised against too much hand-shaking in case they pick up some performance damaging infectious disease. The rest of us have to face the prospect of London becoming a potential centre of communicable disease this summer due to the sudden influx of tourists from around the world. <!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Aside from the potential health impacts, there are also a number of cultural nuances that Olympic visitors will have to deal with when they arrive in the UK. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States have <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/Features\/LondonOlympics\/\">helpfully posted advice for travellers to the Games<\/a>. These include a translation of quirky words used by UK locals to describe symptoms such as \u201cgip\u201d and \u201cgiddy\u201d and the CDC also encourages everyone to have appropriate \u201cjabs\u201d before setting off. There is an explanation that paracetamol is actually acetaminophen and that the term \u201csurgery\u201d is referring to a doctor\u2019s office rather than a man with a mask and knife. Curiously the CDC has also felt the need to explain that \u201csurgical spirit\u201d may have a different significance for our American visitors.<\/p>\n<p>For times of need there are explanations of the meaning of the terms \u201cloo\u201d and \u201clorry\u201d with the guidance that if you are hit by the latter \u201cto call 999 and not 911 and ask for A&amp;E and not the ER.\u201d Visitors are also advised to wash their hands frequently or use a hand sanitizer and to \u201ccough and sneeze into a tissue or your sleeve.\u201d Latex condoms are a sine qua non for travellers and condoms are provided free throughout the Olympic village. However, the most hopeful advice from the CDC, given the miserable summer weather we have had until recently, is that \u201cwhen outdoors during the day, wear sunscreen, stay hydrated, and seek shade if you get too hot!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>David Kerr<\/strong>\u00a0wears many hats, sometimes at the same time\u2014diabetologist, editor of\u00a0Diabetes Digest, researcher, and founder of VoyageMD.com, a free service for travellers with diabetes. You can follow him on Twiitter (@GoDiabetesMD) and Linkedin.\u00a0He holds a small amount of stock in CellNovo (a new insulin pump company) and Axon Telehealth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the next few weeks more than 14 000 athletes from 205 Olympic teams and 170 paralympic teams, and 4 million spectators are expected to attend the London 2012 Olympic [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2012\/07\/25\/david-kerr-welcoming-the-world\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2253],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-david-kerr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>David Kerr: Welcoming the world - 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