Online visit · $45 flat · No video
Yes, you can get a standby antibiotic for traveler's diarrhea online before your trip. Bidwell Health offers a $45 asynchronous visit (no video, no subscription) for adults in eligible states. A licensed nurse practitioner can prescribe a single course of azithromycin to carry and start only if you get hit with the kind of stomach illness travelers call Montezuma's revenge, Delhi belly, or Bali belly.
I have had traveler's diarrhea in Southeast Asia, Mexico, and Guatemala, so a standby antibiotic is one of the first things I pack now. I review these visits as a Member of the International Society of Travel Medicine, with CDC Yellow Book sourcing and clear referral boundaries. Bidwell Cranage, APRN, FNP-C.
And it costs less. A travel-clinic visit alone is often $100 or more before any medication. Bidwell is a flat $45, and generic azithromycin is usually a few dollars at your own pharmacy with no markup from us. See the full cost comparison.
For moderate to severe traveler's diarrhea, the standby antibiotic is azithromycin (a 1,000 mg single dose, or 500 mg daily for 3 days). It is preferred over older options, especially in South and Southeast Asia where the bacteria have grown resistant to other drugs. We do not prescribe fluoroquinolones like ciprofloxacin for this, because of tendon-rupture and other risks that are not worth it for a travel convenience.
Pair it with smart self-care: oral rehydration (the most important thing), and loperamide (Imodium) for symptom control, but not loperamide alone if you have a fever or blood in the stool.
This is a treatment you carry, not a daily preventive. You start it only if you develop real, disruptive diarrhea on your trip, and it is not for mild, brief loose stool that settles on its own. Taking antibiotics every day to prevent diarrhea is not recommended.
Most traveler's diarrhea is self-limited. But high fever, blood in the stool, severe belly pain, or signs of serious dehydration (very little urine, dizziness, confusion, not able to keep fluids down) mean you should seek in-person care, not just take the standby antibiotic. Get medical care too if diarrhea does not improve in 48 to 72 hours, or if it starts during or after a recent course of antibiotics, which can signal a different infection (C. difficile). Following CDC guidance, antibiotics are reserved for moderate to severe illness, and the antimotility drug loperamide should never be used alone when there is bloody diarrhea or fever.
Traveler's diarrhea antibiotics are prescription only, and we treat them that way. Every request is reviewed by a U.S.-licensed nurse practitioner (NPI 1396219671), we never offer antibiotics with "no prescription needed," and we screen your destination, trip dates, allergies, pregnancy status, age, kidney and liver history, heart-rhythm (long-QT) risk, current medications, and any prior antibiotic reactions before prescribing. If a standby course is appropriate, it goes to your own licensed U.S. pharmacy with a normal prescription label, not shipped as loose or foreign-packaged pills. You can verify any U.S. pharmacy through the FDA's BeSafeRx program or your state board of pharmacy.
Yes. Bidwell Health offers a $45 asynchronous online visit, no video and no subscription, for adults in eligible states. A licensed nurse practitioner can prescribe a standby course of azithromycin to carry on your trip, sent to your pharmacy when clinically appropriate.
Azithromycin is the preferred standby antibiotic for moderate to severe traveler's diarrhea, including in South and Southeast Asia where other antibiotics have lost effectiveness. We do not use fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin because of tendon and other risks.
For treatment, not routine prevention. You carry it and start it only if you develop moderate to severe diarrhea during travel. It is not meant to be taken every day to prevent diarrhea, and it is not for mild, brief diarrhea.
Bidwell Health charges a flat $45 for the online visit, with no video and no subscription. You pay the generic azithromycin price at your own pharmacy, with no markup added by us.
Yes, when the service works like a real clinic and pharmacy, not a pill store. Bidwell requires a review by a U.S.-licensed nurse practitioner, never offers antibiotics with 'no prescription needed', and screens your destination, allergies, pregnancy, heart-rhythm (QT) risk, and current medications. The standby course goes to your own licensed U.S. pharmacy with a normal label, not loose or foreign-packaged pills, and you can verify any U.S. pharmacy through the FDA's BeSafeRx program. We follow normal privacy and HIPAA practices.