Global Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine

Byung Chul Chun

doi:10.5124/jkma.2010.53.6.510

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Chun: Global Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine

Continuing Education Column

Journal of the Korean Medical Association

Journal of the Korean Medical Association 2010; 53(6): 510-523.

Published online: 30 June 2010

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5124/jkma.2010.53.6.510

Global Epidemiology of Infectious Diseases and Travel Medicine

Byung Chul Chun, MD

Department of Preventive Medicine, Korea University Medical College, Korea.

Corresponding author: Byung Chul Chun. chun@korea.ac.kr

Abstract

Travel medicine is an interdisciplinary specialty concerned not only with prevention of infectious diseases during travel but also with personal safety and prevention of environmental risk. Travel medicine focuses primarily on pre-travel preventive care of persons and less on the diagnosis and treatment of illness acquired in the tropics. To provide optimal pre-travel preventive service, it is needed for the travel health provider to be aware of the epidemiology of the many travel-related health risks. But still the knowledge of the precise risks for a specific disease in a specific location has proved elusive and the application of evidence-based standards to travel medicine is a challenge. The GeoSentinel, a worldwide communication and data collection network for the surveillance of travel related morbidity and mortality was initiated in 1995, and provides various epidemiologic features needed in pre-travel risk assessment. The three essential elements of pre-travel health service are risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. The risk assessment includes both assessing the health problem of the traveler and the risk of travel itself. Hence the health risks of a specific destination is changeable over time, they should be evaluated with last informations provided from World Health Organizations or other professional institutes for travel health. The essential services for risk management include vacccination, chemoprophylaxis (e.g.,malaria), and education the risk and prevention of insetborne, foodborne, animal-related diseases, behavioral safety, and any other known risks. The of travel-related diseases of Korean travelers are not quite clear yet. It is recommended that the travel-related disease surveillance system for Korean travelers should be improved so as to provide evidences needed to assess the risks and to prescribe preventive services.

Keywords: Travel medicine, Travel health, GeoSentinel, Pre-travel visit

Figures and Tables

Figure 1

Diagnosis according to syndrome group and travel region among ill travelers returning from the developing world.

Figure 2

International travel and health interactive map of WHO-an example for Ghana in Africa.

Figure 3

Travelers' health information homepage of Korean Center for Disease Control.

Table 1

Incidence rate per month of health problems during a stay in developing countries, 2008 (4)

Table 2

Frequent etiologic diagnosis within 3 common syndrome groups by travel region (%)

Table 3

No. of notifiable infectious disease cases who infected in foreign countries from 2001 to 2008 (16)

^*No data

^†Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome

Table 4

Elements of travel medicine pratice

Table 5

Contents of basic medical kit

(WHO. International travel and health: situation on 1 January 2010. 2010. p4)

Table 6

Selected websites for traveller or travel clinic practitioner

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