Nothing can stop me from flying Lufthansa

The best airport lounge in the world that I have visited is the Lufthansa First class Lounge in Frankfurt. I could easily spend a week there in the Spa and eating the exquisite food. HEAVEN mmm…

Lufthansa has great fares to Europe and beyond this summer. Only $348 each way : - USA to Madrid via Germany. You can fly Business Class for as low as $999* (One-way based on round-trip purchase).

Sure I’m afraid of the illness in Germany but these days, illnesses spread globally FAST. E. coli is a common type of bacteria that can make you very sick. I had diarrhea and vomiting at the Marriott hotel in Guam from expired mayonnaise. All I had to eat that day was a fries with mayonnaise and I don’t think that the potatoes chips could have caused it.

The most important thing to beware of when traveling is to not become ill. I lived in Mexico for many years but I never contracted Montezuma's revenge (the colloquial term for traveler's diarrhea contracted by tourists) I always drank bottled water in restaurants and I distilled water at home.

ESSENTIAL Tips:

• Make sure that the waiter opens your drink bottles in front of you so you can hear the pop and know that it has not been filled with tap water.
• NO ice (It’s just frozen parasites)
• Don’t eat salad only cooked food.
• No fruit that you have not opened.(kitchen staff may not have washed hands)

Germany has now admitted that the E.coli outbreak was caused by bean sprouts, after pointing a finger at Spanish cucumber. CDC Investigators have determined that locally grown vegetable sprouts are the cause of the European E. coli Shiga toxin outbreak that has killed 31 people, causing kidney failure.The CDC is monitoring a large outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O104:H4 (STEC O104:H4) infections ongoing in Germany. The responsible strain shares virulence characteristics with enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC). As of June 6, 2011, case counts confirmed by Germany’s Robert Koch Institute* include 642 patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) – a type of kidney failure that is associated with E.coli or STEC infections.

An interesting Corporation has developed a way to capture the molecular diagnostics. CEO Jonathon Rothberg said that, “Life Technologies has a new machine that decoded the deadly strain. He said that the strain in Germany was a superbug with 14 different genes that gave it resistance to drugs. Life has developed a custom test (assay) to accurately detect the E. coli bacterium that has affected more than 2,100 worldwide. Shipments of the TaqMan® E. coli 0104 Detection Kit to test foods is a "A qPCR-based assay test is the most accurate method to detect harmful food borne pathogens. A positive result indicates the presence of that particular strain's DNA in the food sample.

I’m going to redeem Elite miles for an upgraded flight award from the Miles & More  Star Alliance airline program.