25 Iconic Food-Borne Illnesses From Around The World

Why stay home this summer and get boring old salmonella poisoning? Discover a new universe of Vibrio vulnificus, Coxiella burnetii, Yersinia pestis, and more. "Look," says Ima Germe, founder and CEO of Dugway, Utah-based Typhoid Mary Tours, "coming down with something nasty while you're on a trip is a status symbol these days, and you're not going to get much sympathy, much less any decent press, if you just contract what everybody else contracts. Salmonella? Don't make me laugh. An everyday E. coli infection? You couldn't get arrested." Germe plans exciting itineraries focused in Third World countries with poor sanitation facilities and unpotable water. "Memories fade as you get old," she adds, "but many of our clients bring home something that will last forever."