Sore throat infection from cold drinks with ice in Vietnam.

Sore throat infection from cold drinks with ice in Vietnam.

by tonytran2015 (Melbourne, Australia).

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(Blog No. 164).

Visitors to Vietnam (most of them to Saigon) often caught Sore Throat infection. They would hear some claims by the mass that there are some outbreaks of throat infection by influenza virii. Actually there are no such outbreaks in influenza virii to cause such infection.

This is the story of my own search for the real reason for the claim that drinking cold drink with ice in Vietnam may cause a throat infection.

#throat infection, #cold drink with ice cubes, #unhygienic drink serving, #Vietnam

Sore throat infection from cold drinks with ice in Vietnam.

1. Having sore throat after having few drinks in Vietnam?

A tourist went out to have few glass of beers or cold drinks in the most expensive places in Vietnam and come back to his room with a sore throat infection. His friends tell him that everyone drinking cold drinks in Vietnam eventually gets an infection due to the cold drinks. Government Health Department has so many blunders that it has no more credibility to offer any recommendation. So the tourist may believe that his cold drinks may have caused his infection.

2. My search for the true cause of sore throat infection in Vietnam.

Ice makers in Vietnam are under some degree of control by the Vietnamese Health Department.

The beer and soft drink makers are also under some degree of control by the Vietnamese Health Department.

The drink glasses have been mostly cleaned and well washed.

So it was a puzzle to see why a tourist can catch a throat infection in an expensive reception or club.

3. Some investigative work is needed.

Paying attention on the way cold drinks are served in Vietnam brings out some UNSUAL activities: The waiters are always busy pulling out the ice cubes from guests’ glasses to replace them with bigger cubes: The partially dissolved cubes are pulled out of each glass by a pair of tongues. They are then placed in an ice bucket that carries all ice cubes, new and partially dissolved. The waiters then choose from those cubes one of the right size for dropping into the guest’s glass to make its liquid rise to the brim. The waiters want to make an image that the glasses of all guests are always full.

You should know by now why people consuming cold drinks with ice cubes have sore throat infection.

4 The most probable cause of throat infection for tourists to Vietnam

a/- Suppose that a guest has a throat infection.
b/- The pair of tongues that dip into his drink may carry some virus.
c/- His ice cubes may carry some virus.
d/- The ice bucket now spreads thw virus to all cubes.
e/- The pair of tongues and the ice cubes from the bucket carries virus to the guest being served.
f/- Every guest now equitably shared some virus.

5. Personal actions to avoid such throat infection.

a/- Whenever I needed a drink, I avoided their glasses, pair of tongues for ice and ice cubes by asking for a fridge cooled, sealed, pull-top can of drink. I would then personally wash its top in the toilet then bring it back to the table and open it, drinking the content directly from its opened top with a drink straw. I would then ask the waiters to give me privacy and keep away from me and my can of drink !

b/- If ice cubes are needed insist on obtaining them yourself directly from a sealed bag from a well known ice manufacturer and NOT PARTIALLY DISSOLVED cubes as the latter may come out of someone else’ glass. It is paradoxic that STREET VENDORS seem to ADHERE MORE to this rule for hygiene than expensive clubs and reception centers full of (wrongly trained) busy looking waiters.

c/- Observe strictly the rules of NOT SHARING EATING AND DRINKING CUTTLERY. This rule is observed rigorously in Western Countries and in Former (pre 1975) South Vietnam but it is NOT observed by people from former North Vietnam.

d/- The non-observance of this rule of NOT SHARING EATING AND DRINKING CUTTLERY now spreads to the majority of alcoholic drinkers in Vietnam. DO NOT share their glasses and avoid drinking with them.