If you’re planning to travel abroad, the first item on your itinerary should be a stop at a travel medicine clinic. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends such a visit four to six weeks prior to your expected date of departure.
Travel is not without risk, especially to developing countries whether for business, pleasure or visiting family and relatives.
According to World Tourism Organization in 2007, there were 903 million international tourist arrivals and over 400 million travelers to developing countries. There is no doubt that global travel by U.S. citizens has increased, especially among recent immigrants going back to their home countries with their children to visit family and friends.
In 2004, 46% of U.S. international air travelers comprised those visiting friends and relatives. Of 100 thousand travelers visiting developing countries for a month or more, 50 thousand will develop some health problem.
Common health problems associated with travel include: travel diarrhea, respiratory problems, skin disorders, fever and trauma. Many of these health problems are preventable and the risk of exposure to some of these can be reduced for a well-informed traveler.
As a physician, I will advise all travelers to consult with a Travel Medicine Specialist. The Travel Medicine Specialist helps the traveler with understanding travel related health risk to help them prepare for their trip.
The initial goal of the pre-travel consultation recommended by the CDC is to determine potential health risks facing the traveler based on his/her medical history, travel destination, mode of travel, itinerary of destination, purpose of travel and season of travel.
A travel clinic has access to the most accurate, up-to-date information on what diseases exist in every country, including the latest outbreaks. A Travel Medicine Specialist will communicate these risks to the traveler in ways that empowers and informs. A plan for mitigating and reducing the identified risks is then made, which may include vaccine administration, prescription of medications to prevent diseases, such as malaria, or treat conditions that arise during travel, such as diarrhea. Finally, an informed traveler is a safe traveler.
A Travel Medicine Specialist can offer safeguards on how to reduce your chances of developing diseases that are present at your destination. No vaccine or preventative medicine is going to be 100 percent effective, so you still need to exercise caution in exposing yourself to various things.
Your visit with a Travel Medicine Specialist will also include instruction about how to eat foods and drink water safely to decrease your risk for typhoid, traveler’s diarrhea and other maladies in addition to how to deal with jet lag and motion sickness. Upon your return home, if you feel as if you may have contracted something on your trip, you can return to the Travel Medicine Specialist for post-travel evaluation and if need be, treatment.
Whether you are traveling for work, pleasure, missionary projects, or other reasons, being protected against disease can help you make the most of the experience. For your own information, check out the CDC website at http://www.cdc.gov/. Call a full service travel clinic, such as Franciscan St. James Health’s International Travel Clinic at 708-503-3222, in order to be fully prepared for your trip.
Kanayo K. Odeluga, MD, is an internal medicine and occupational medicine physician at the St. James Occupational and Environmental Health Centers. Franciscan St. James Health is a member of the Southland Health Alliance.
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