FREE trip to Mexico!! *(Read the fine print)

By E-Travel ⋅ January 2, 2010 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

FREE trip to Mexico!! Think you can’t pass it up…think twice.
The drug company Intercell is offering willing travellers a free trip to Mexico in exchange for participation in a drug trial that will, if successful, help overcome the largest vacation woe – Traveller’s Diarrhea.

The offer is available for 1,000 people under the condition that they come in for tests should they fall ill during the vacation. What’s in it for you? A round trip ticket to either Mexico or Guatemala and 3 star hotel accomodations for one week. However, the hotel must be in close proximity (no more than three hours) from one of the centers where the traveller will be required to give blood test and provide stool samples if they get sick.

Intercell hopes the trial will confirm initial findings that the vaccine significantly reduces the chances of contaminated food or drink leading to a nasty bout of Montezuma’s revenge.

The eye-catching offer has already been inundated by volunteers, particularly hard-up students looking for a cheap holiday. Of the 170 human trials so far the chances of one coming down with an upset stomach have been cut by three-quarters.

Travellers’ diarrhea is one of the most common and debilitating illnesses experienced by holidaymakers, particularly in the developing world. Attacks last four to five days, involve 18 trips to the toilet and cause dehydration, stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting.

Volunteers will receive the vaccine through a patch worn on the arm for six hours three weeks prior to travelling, followed by a booster dose one week before they set off.

Similar trips are planned to India – another destination notorious for stomach upsets – and the vaccine could be available within five years if it is proven to be safe and effective.

Gotta be in or near London to participate!
If you go for this foolishness, report back in, let us know all about it!