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Outside Magazine November 2001
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Medicine
Pounds of Prevention
Band-Aids are for wimps—state-of-the-art med kits let adventurers pack an ER on their backs
By Will Rizzo


The Kilimanjaro ($650) is packed with plenty of what you'd expect in a backcountry medical kit—moleskin, bandages, Band-Aids, ibuprofen,—and a whole lot that's not so common. For information call 800-858-7430; www.wildernessmedical.com
REMEMBER WHEN an overseas traveler's most serious medical problem was a bad case of Delhi Belly? Those days are over. Anyone venturing onto an East African game reserve this winter faces a surge in unsavory diseases like dengue fever, malaria, and sleeping sickness--just a few reasons why today's intrepid adventurer requires some serious pharmacological firepower.

That's where the new supercharged, destination-specific med kits like the Kilimanjaro (below) come in. These mobile trauma centers are packed with everything from scalpels and forceps to surgical staplers and, most important, a dispensary of prescription drugs tailored to the bugs in whatever part of the world you enter. The kits weigh up to 18 pounds and cost as much as $650, but folks in the field think they're worth it. "Prescription drugs can save hundreds of people in the backcountry," says high-altitude physician Peter Hackett. "Everyone needs to carry a couple."

What To Bring
  • surgical stapler
  • forceps
  • tweezers
  • scissors
  • scalpel
  • large shears
  • sterile saline
  • irrigating syringe
Why You Need It: "The cleaner you keep a wound, the better," says New Hampshire-based wilderness EMT Sue Barnes. "With an irrigating syringe you can really blast out the bacteria."

  • stethoscope
  • emergency dental module
  • wire saw
Why You Need It: "I once broke a tooth on a frozen candy bar on Denali," remembers Alaska Mountaineering School guide Brian Okonek, "but the temporary filling in my med kit covered the exposed nerve and let me keep climbing."

  • Spenco 2nd Skin
  • cold compress
  • airway
  • prescription drugs
  • SAM splint
  • emergency blanket
  • sphygmomanometer (blood-pressure gauge)
Why You Need It: "I picked up African tick fever in South Africa," says Montana-based safari outfitter Jack Atcheson, who took advantage of Wilderness Medical Systems's optional $42 prescription-drug phone consultation. "None of the locals or doctors knew what it was, so I had to self-diagnose and give myself tetracycline. It snapped me right out of it."


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