How to Avoid Getting Sick in China: Stay Healthy

The traveler who gets sick in China usually gets sick from something ordinary. A glass of tap water, a plate of undercooked shellfish, a long day in July heat, a flight straight into Lhasa. Exotic disease is rare. Most tourists who lose days to illness lose them to their stomach or to exhaustion in the first week, often while still adjusting to the culture shock. Mind what you eat, drink enough, sleep on a schedule, and dress for the region: Harbin in January and Guangzhou in August are different trips.

How to avoid getting sick in China: the common risks

When you travel to China, the health risks are mostly conventional ones. The CDC’s China guidance spends its time on food and water, mosquitoes, animal bites, altitude, heat, air quality and road traffic.

Drink bottled or boiled water

The only place where you can drink the tap water is Hong Kong. On the mainland the CDC rates tap water unsafe to drink, even in major cities. Most hotels provide boiled or bottled water, and bottled water is sold in every convenience store and restaurant. Brushing your teeth with it is the part people forget.

If you are staying in your own apartment, buy your drinking water or boil it. The CDC standard is a rolling boil for one minute, or three minutes above 6,500 feet (about 2,000 meters), which matters in Lhasa and parts of Yunnan. Boiling kills bacteria, viruses and parasites. It does not remove chemical contaminants, which is why longer-term residents usually fit a filter as well.

Take care with food

Street food is one of the best things about China. You do not need to avoid it, you need to choose it. The CDC’s general food safety rule for travelers holds up well here: eat food that is cooked and served hot, eat fruit you peel yourself or that has been washed in safe water, and drink from sealed bottles.

For China specifically, the CDC tells travelers to strictly avoid undercooked fish and shellfish and unpasteurized milk products. Hepatitis E is endemic and is spread through contaminated water and undercooked meat and seafood. The CDC rates travelers’ diarrhea risk as low in luxury hotels and moderate everywhere else. Our guide to what not to eat in China covers the specific dishes.

Avoid mosquito bites

Malaria is no longer a China problem: the WHO certified China malaria-free on 30 June 2021, and the cases still reported are imported. Mosquitoes matter for other reasons.

Dengue is the one the CDC calls a significant health risk for travelers. Epidemics run every four to six years, mostly in the southern provinces. Chikungunya arrived in force in 2025: an outbreak that began in Foshan, Guangdong, in July grew into the largest documented in China, with the WHO counting 16,452 locally transmitted cases across Guangdong by 27 September 2025. The CDC’s travel notice for it was lifted in January 2026. Both diseases are carried by day-biting Aedes mosquitoes. The CDC advises insect-bite precautions through the summer months, and year-round in southern Yunnan and Hainan. Check current notices for southern China before you travel.

Keep away from animals

Rabies is endemic in China, especially among free-roaming dogs, and the CDC says dog bites are common among tourists. Do not touch or feed animals you do not know, including the monkeys at temple sites and tourist mountains. If you are bitten or scratched, wash the wound thoroughly with soap and water and get medical care the same day. Rabies immune globulin meeting international standards is often unavailable in China, so the CDC warns that a bite can end a trip early with evacuation to Hong Kong, Bangkok or home.

Skip freshwater swimming. Lakes and rivers can carry schistosomiasis and leptospirosis, and the advice from both the CDC and the UK’s travel health service is chlorinated pools or the sea.

Altitude, heat and air quality

Altitude. The UK’s travel health service treats anything above 2,500 meters as high altitude. The CDC names Xining (2,295 m), Lijiang (2,418 m), Shangri-La (3,280 m) and Lhasa (3,658 m) as destinations where altitude illness is a concern. Ascend gradually where the itinerary allows it, build in rest days, and descend if symptoms get worse. Flying straight into Lhasa removes the gradual part, so talk to your doctor before the trip. The CDC advises travelers who cannot acclimatize gradually to carry their own acetazolamide, because supply in China is unreliable.

Heat. Eastern China’s 2023 summer heat wave was close to the longest and hottest on record and filled emergency rooms with heat stroke. In prolonged heat the CDC’s advice is to cut outdoor activity and drink more.

Air quality. This has changed more than any other item on the list. Beijing’s average PM2.5 concentration fell from 89.5 micrograms per cubic meter in 2013 to 27.0 in 2025, the first year below 30. That is still well above the WHO guideline of 5. Short exposure mostly irritates the eyes and throat; people with asthma, heart or lung conditions, children and older adults should plan around bad days. Check the local air quality index, and the CDC considers a properly fitted N95 worthwhile for anyone determined to be outside when the air is very poor.

Vaccinations before you go

No vaccine is required to enter China unless you arrive from a country with risk of yellow fever, in which case you need the certificate. Everything else is a recommendation that depends on your itinerary, so book a travel clinic four to six weeks out. The CDC’s core list is routine vaccines (including measles) up to date, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B for nonimmune travelers, with typhoid and rabies added for rural trips and long stays. Our page on vaccines for China goes through each one.

Bringing and buying medicine

Bring all your regular medication for the whole trip, plus a margin. Ordinary medication in a reasonable personal quantity is fine if it stays in its original labeled packaging and you carry the prescription or a doctor’s letter. Be careful with anything containing codeine or pseudoephedrine, and with ADHD stimulants such as Adderall: China treats these as controlled or banned, and a prescription from home does not change that. Our travel to China checklist has the full list.

Chinese pharmacies often sell prescription drugs over the counter, but the CDC warns those can be counterfeit, substandard or contaminated. Treat a local pharmacy as a backup, not a plan.

Medical care in China for foreigners

• Where to go. Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong have facilities that meet international standards, including private international hospitals such as United Family Healthcare. Large public hospitals in other cities often have a VIP or international ward with English-speaking staff, though the CDC calls the standard of care there somewhat unpredictable. In rural areas, basic care may be all there is.
• Ambulances. The emergency number is 120. China has no recognized paramedic profession, and ambulance crews may be doctors or nurses with varying training. In rural areas the CDC suggests taking a taxi or any available vehicle to the nearest major hospital rather than waiting.
• Paying. Many hospitals do not accept foreign medical insurance and expect a deposit before treatment. Public hospitals usually charge as each test or prescription is ordered. Pay, keep every receipt, and claim it back.
• Paperwork. Public hospitals register patients by ID, so bring your passport. Have your insurance policy number somewhere other than your phone.
• Insurance. Buy travel health insurance that includes medical evacuation. The CDC is emphatic about it.

Language is the other obstacle. Outside the international wards, registration desks, triage and pharmacy counters run in Mandarin, so translate your condition, allergies and medication names into Chinese before you go and keep them on paper.