I have never stayed in any AI resort in my life. I'd as soon visit Disneyland.
I got a really awful case of amoebic dysentery in Tamazunchale, Tamps. driving down to Mexico City once.
I also ate some bad chicharrones in Juan Dolio, RD that took away my appetite for ten days. This was caused by some parasite. No more chicharrones for me. Mexicans cook them a lot better.
As a rule, for all diarrhea, I immediately take something. For respiratory things, I see a doctor after three days. For diarrhea, a lot of medicines kill all the biota in your stomach, and then you can't digest properly, so the diarrhea symptom is still with you, but for another reason. The cure is to eat local yoghurt three times a day. There is a Swedish tablet that restores the beneficial digestive bacteria even more rapidly.
In the US, stupid laws make it impossible to buy anything that will cure you without a prescription. In Latin American counties, you can buy all the antibiotics and cold medicine you wish if you have the money. Pharmacists can be very helpful art diagnosing respiratory and stomach problems. In the DR, the local hospital will diagnose you for free, but you have to pay for the medicine. The medicine is price controlled, however, so you do not have to pay the same exorbitant prices as you do in the US (unless you have Medicare).
I lived in Mexico for over three years total, and after a while, I never got ill more than in the US. Of course, if you ride a bus daily you will come in contact with several hundred people that you would not in the US. This makes you more prone to get ill at first, and much more resistant when you return to the US.
I have heard from several people that a visit to Japan, a very clean country, will still cause Americans to contract respiratory diseases that they have never come in contact with before.
Always peel fruit carefully, and avoid salad.
