As Americans, we often take for granted the tremendous amounts of benefits we have compared to the rest of the world.  Sure, there are a lot of things that could be better and a lot of things that need to be changed, but for the most part we are relatively same compared to most of the rest of the world.  A few years back a good friend of mine went to a wedding in the Dominican Republic.  Somehow, while there he contracted food poisoning.  Bacteria and viruses are the most common cause of food poisoning. The symptoms and severity depend on which bacteria or virus has contaminated the food. His was a serious case that affected his overall health for several months.  Since, they had been careful to drink only bottled water and had avoided any risky foods, the best the doctors could come up with is that he had ate something that had been washed in the local water.  When he returned to America and continued to have problems the doctors determined that the virus had activated arthritis in his body and caused pain and swelling in his hands for months. 

This past week an Iowa couple and their two children died from inhaling toxic gas while sleeping in a rental condominium in Mexico.  The bodies of Kevin Wayne Sharp; his wife, Amy Marie Sharp; their son, Sterling, 12; and daughter Adrianna, 7, were discovered Friday at the condominium in the beach town of Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula, about an hour from Cancun.

Autopsies showed they had suffocated after inhaling toxic gases, but it’s unclear what type of gas led to their deaths, the prosecutor’s office added. There were no signs of foul play or suicide, officials said. The Quintana Roo prosecutor’s office said the family had been dead for about 36 to 48 hours.  The local investigators ruled out a possible robbery because they did not see evidence of a disturbance inside the condo. There were no signs of foul play or suicide, Quintana Roo state prosecutors said in a statement. Civil protection experts examined the condo’s gas installations and would issue their findings later, the statement said.A spokeswoman for the state prosecutors office said officials could not comment on whether the owner of the condo could face any liability until after investigations were completed.

Kevin Wayne Sharp with his wife, Amy Marie, son Sterling and daughter Adrianna.

Jana Weland, a relative, told CNN the family arrived in Tulum on March 15. They were staying in a rental house they found through a vacation rental company. The last contact the family had with the Sharps was a picture the son posted on Snapchat of his feet by the water that day, Weland said.

The Sharps were supposed to return from their vacation Wednesday, Weland said. Kevin Sharp, who owns a beer distribution company, failed to check in with his employees that morning as planned, which was unlike him, Weland said.

Photos released by Mexican officials show crews and firefighters wearing masks while checking a gas stove in the condo. They performed “physical inspection of the room’s gas installation” and are expected to release a technical report at a later date.

Then the family failed to attend a basketball game Wednesday night in Danville, Illinois — a game Weland said the family was looking forward to. But the extended family waited until Thursday night to call authorities in case the Sharps had problems with their flight.

Besides working in beer distribution, Kevin Sharp was a race car driver at southwestern Iowa’s Adams County Speedway in southwestern Iowa, where he finished fourth in last year’s stock car series standings.

Sharp first got involved in the speedway through his beer distribution business, and eventually became a board member, track announcer Bob Harris said.

The Sharps show off a trophy after a race at Iowa’s Adams County Speedway in an undated photo.

Harris said the Sharp family was tightly knit.  “Everything they did, they did as a family,” Harris said. “His family was involved — his son was working on the race car with him, cheering him on. Here in Iowa racing is a big family; we try to promote it as a family sport and (the Sharps) lived it.”

Harris said he last messaged Sharp on March 14, about a racetrack project. Sharp messaged back, saying the plans for the project looked great, and that he was traveling to Mexico. The two were supposed to go racing together next week, Harris said.

The family last contacted relatives on March 15 and said they’d arrived safely at the condo. Missing persons reports were filed through the U.S. Embassy in Mexico when the Sharps didn’t get off plane in St. Louis or show up as expected on Thursday at a Southwest Community College basketball game in Darien, Illinois.

Kevin Sharp, like most Americans, assumed the condo he rented was safe.  I’m sure he never considered that the code and inspection standards in that area might be different than they are in the United States.  Especially in these days or terrorism and random mass shootings, all of us need to be careful no matter where we are, but traveling out of the United States exposes one to unpredictable risks and uncertainties.  It might be hard to enjoy a vacation and remain on guard in your mind, but it appears that is what we are going to have to do.