How to Stay Healthy While Traveling This Summer

June marks the start of peak summer travel season, and while packed airports and theme parks are part of the fun, they also bring you into contact with germs you wouldn't typically encounter at home.

Dr. Daniel Egan, an infectious disease physician with Orlando Health, says heavily touched surfaces and large crowds create real opportunities for illness to spread. "It's not just you traveling, but it's everyone else as well," he said.

The illnesses most common during summer travel include non-polio enteroviruses, which cause cold-like symptoms, respiratory diseases like measles, gastrointestinal viruses like norovirus, and vector-borne illnesses like Lyme disease or malaria. Travelers heading to the Southern Hemisphere should also be aware that flu season peaks there in June, July and August. "Our summertime is their wintertime," Egan said.

The most important defense, according to Egan, is hand hygiene. Washing with soap and water remains the gold standard, though hand sanitizer works well after touching railings, elevator buttons and other high-contact surfaces. Keeping your hands away from your eyes and face also helps cut down on transmission.

For protection against ticks and mosquitoes, Egan recommends wearing long sleeves and pants in areas where those insects are common, using an EPA-approved insect repellent, and checking your body for ticks after spending time outside.

The CDC also advises packing a travel health kit before you leave. Depending on your destination, that could include prescription and over-the-counter medications, a mask, insect repellent, sunscreen, aloe, water disinfection tablets, and your health insurance card.