Travel Related Diseases
Once in a new country, you’ll be exposed to many new things such as beautiful landscapes, architectural wonders, and relaxing beaches. Unfortunately, you may also be exposed to a number of diseases. Travel medicine is the practice that concentrates on the prevention of such travel diseases. By assessing the risks of the country you’re going to, travel medicine adopts different strategies to lower the risks of contracting diseases. These strategies range from vaccines, medication, advice or a combination of all three of these methods.
It doesn’t stop there! Travel medicine also involves in-country healthcare information, accident prevention, and personal safety advice.
What is a Travel Disease?
Have you ever heard of traveller’s diarrhea? It’s probably something you’d like to avoid. A travel disease is a sickness or illness that can be caught when you’re in another country. These diseases can be caught by:
- Contaminated food or water
- Insect or animal bites
- Blood transfer (sex, needles, blood transfusions, etc.)
- Swimming
- Wound infection
Therefore, it’s a good idea to know your risk levels and how to prevent diseases from entering the country.
What is a Tropical Disease?
As the term suggests, tropical diseases concern the diseases mainly encountered in the tropics. Infections like malaria or dengue fever love hot and humid locations.
What is a Parasitic Disease?
Parasitic diseases are infections caused by parasites. Parasites range from bacteria-sized creatures (protozoa) to actual worms (helminth) like tapeworms. Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by mosquitoes.
Common Travel Illnesses
Some of the most common diseases you may encounter in your travels are:
Illness After International Travel
It is essential to protect yourself when travelling. Things might not always go as planned, and you might end up contracting a sickness whilst abroad. In this situation, protecting others becomes as important as protecting yourself.
If your symptoms worsen during your travels and you’re still sick upon returning to your home country, then it’s critical to contact the right people. You can start with the flight attendant or border services, who will examine the situation and asses whether you need a quarantine officer.
You should also contact a medical professional and give them all the necessary details on your travels. Listing the visited counties and all the possible medical care you received are crucial pieces of information required to assess your situation. Symptoms should be described whilst making an appointment, so that your doctor can assess whether exposure to others is harmful or not.
What Can I do for Infection Control?
In order to limit your chances of getting sick during your travels make sure to:
- Wash your hands thoroughly before and after eating (soap or hand sanitizer)
- Avoid putting hands in your mouth or rubbing your eyes if they’re not clean
- Wash the groceries you buy and prepare food adequately
- Not have unprotected sex
- Not share anything related to blood (needles)
- Vaccinate yourself
- Not expose others if you’re sick
Ensure to use your common sense! It’s important to stay safe but also to keep others safe.
A List of the Travel Related Diseases
Below are some of the typical diseases you may encounter during your travels. No vaccines are available, but you can click on any of the links below to discover preventative options.
Fortunately, some diseases can be prevented with vaccines we provide! You can find these below.
Travel Vaccines Offered by Summit Travel health
Here are the vaccines that Summit Travel Health currently offers. Our medical professionals will gladly administer any available vaccine needed to make your travels as safe as they are enjoyable!