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1. To avoid bites and stings wear shoes and long, loose jean trousers. These outfits will also help protect you from snake bites as well as an assortment of animal hazards.

2. Avoid catching bilharzia or schistosomiasis, a disease acquired from bathing, paddling or showering in tropical freshwater that infected people have excreted into. This disease is rampant in remote regions of Africa. To avoid it, bath at least 200m from where other bathers might have been.

3. To avoid diarrhoea cook, boil or peel whatever you're about to eat. If you can't do any of the three then avoid eating or drinking it. Chemicals don’t get all waterborne diseases.

4. If bitten by a snake bandage the limb that has received a snake bite to slow the distribution of the venom while avoiding the dangers of tourniquets.

5. Malaria symptoms may start with nausea, diarrhoea or a cough. It is important to get any fever properly diagnosed.

6. To avoid mosquito bites, it may be necessary to reapply mosquito repellent every couple of hours in sweaty climates. Insect repellents not only repel mosquitoes but they also deter leeches, ticks and bugs.

7. Always travel with condoms. There are more than 25 known sexually transmitted infections. Arrange a check-up promptly if you have exposed yourself to possible infection.

8. Carry a simple first aid kit for illnesses like queasy stomachs, grazes and sore throats.

9. Avoid drinking alcohol while acclimatising to high altitude. It adds to the symptoms of mountain sickness and makes dehydration worse.

10. Take all relevant shots before hopping on that plane. Who knows that shot might be what would save your life.