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Health Concerns for Hikers

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Health Concerns Specific to the New York/New Jersey Area

Environmental Health News daily news report of a broad range of health issue related to the environment.

Health Concerns in General

Almost any problem that can occur, may occur while hiking or backpacking. Many problems are more associated with the outdoors, hiking or backpacking and less likely to happen around the house or at work. Being in a remote location without immediate access to medical help can make simple problems much more threatening. Numerous books and magazine articles have been written on coping with medical problems in the wilderness, e.g. Health Hints for Hikers, published by the NY-NJ Trail Conference. The following table gives some WWW addresses for some of these concerns.

Concern (class) Concern (specific) Information
Diseases General National Center for Infectious Diseases
  Lyme/Ehrichiosis Ask NOAH About: Lyme Disease, Lyme Disease Information Resource, National Center for Infectious Diseases (Lyme Disease Page), Lyme Disease Network, Lymerix vaccine, Lymerix suit, Lyme Disease Foundation, Inc., CDC Lyme Disease Home Page - CDC Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases (DVBID), MEDLINEplus Lyme Disease, Fighting Fleas and Ticks, Lots Of Links On Lyme Disease - Over 6,500 Categorized Links on Lyme Disease, Heathopedia
  Giardia Giardia, FDA/CFSAN Bad Bug Book Giardia lamblia, Heathopedia
  Rabies National Center for Infectious Diseases (Rabies Page), Heathopedia
  Hanta Virus National Cener for Infectious Diseases (Hanta Virus Page), Heathopedia
Heat Related Hypothermia, Wind chill, etc. OA Guide to Heat Related Injuries & Fluid Balance
Muscular/Skeletal General  
  Sprains/Fractures  
  Foot problems A Foot Talk Place on the 'Net, Foot Care Direct
  Stress  Fractures Metatarsal Stress Fracture, Stress Fractures of the Foot
Pulmonary General  
  High Altitude HAPE, HACE
  Asthma  
Skin General  
  Blisters  
  Insect Bites Comparative Efficacy of Insect Repellents Against Mosquito Bites
  Poison Ivy/Oak Facts about Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Sumac Poison Ivy Oak and Sumac Information - OutdoorPlaces.Com
  Sunburn Melanoma, Skin cancer

There are many good web sites for heath information in general, for example:

Disclaimer

This information is provided as a service. It is the responsibility of the user to verify the advice given by any of these sources with a health professional. This information may be incomplete, out-of-date, or even wrong. There may be better sources of information. Suggestions of other sites are welcome.


V3 Last updated: October 3, 2006   Copyright © 1996-2005  New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Privacy Statement.