XXIX 
HEALTH PRECAUTIONS 
Travel in Latin America can be made 
comparatively safe, from a medical point of 
view, by the strict observance of a few common 
sense precautions. Perhaps the first thing to 
be considered is the question of water. With 
but one or two exceptions, drinking water is 
notoriously bad in all of these countries, be 
ing polluted and almost certain, if drunk, to 
develop, sooner or later, either typhoid or 
some other intestinal disorder. Credence 
should not be placed in the well-intentioned 
statement of the native that the water is good. 
Like their ancestors, through the continual 
drinking of the local water, they have become 
self-immunized to any form of contagion from 
its use. Because the water comes from snow- 
clad mountains does not insure its purity, 
either. Most mountain streams, long before 
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