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.
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!
[...] Free Trip to Mexico: Intracell drug company is searching for 1,000 people to participate in a drug trial to combat the #1 travel disaster – Montezuma’s Revenge. They will pay for a one-week stay in Mexico or Guatemala and round trip airfare. In exchange you must be willing to come into one of their testing sites for blood & stool tests should you become ill. Hmmmmm, I don’t know. You might want to think about this one! [...]
More info with links to sign-up…and you DON’t have to be from London! Yay you!
http://www.gadling.com/2010/01/19/join-a-trek-study-travel-for-free/?icid=main|search3|dl6|link6|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gadling.com%2F2010%2F01%2F19%2Fjoin-a-trek-study-travel-for-free%2F
how the hell can I sign up for intercell’s mexico trip? sounds like bull-shit to me. their 800 number in NYC is wrong. they said they’d take apps on jan 20 -2009. what’s wrong?
how do I sign up for intercell’s mexico vacine test?
Dan you can connect to the link below to go directly to the screening test for the trip. Tell us how it was!
http://www.trekstudy.com/europe/Webscreen.aspx
the local newspaper said in its travel section 2 weeks ago that participants would be chosen from the USA, not London. sounds like bull-shit to me as their 800 # in NYC is wrong. its not posible to contact Intercell on e-mail. this company is feeding us a line of bull.
thanks for your information, i love it
Love your blog!. I really enjoy reading all of the posts. Keep up the good work!
Both myself and my sister will be setting of for our trek study in Antigua Guatemala very soon… The trek study people have been great all the way through even arranging flights and hotels, there was a delay for the start due to the swine flu fiasco but the trek study people kept us up to date. My sister is from Newcastle and i’m from outside London so no problem for those living outside of London, my daughter was coming but she had to drop out because of uni… Please keep in mind that it is not for free, by taking part in the study you are actually contributing something yourself, the rules for the time away are simple and the rest of the time is your own. For us it is a great way to travel and what the heck we will be helping prevent other future travelers getting diarrhea (which i can tell you is hell).. we are all guinea pigs in the end no matter what we do so no harm having fun at the same time … Happy travels
Nice Post..haven’t been to Mexico yet but I was in Peru a few months back. I’m sure it isn’t the same thing (well maybe just the language) but I feel like they are pretty similar. I went to Machu Picchu, Cusco and other places with http://www.closerperu.com ( vacation planners) and had a blast everywhere I went in Peru.
One can never know for sure what a deserted area looks like
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