Archive for the 'Travel Health' Category

“On the last night/morning, many people were stricken with a gastrointestinal illness that caused diarrhea and vomiting. A great deal of vomit was on the stairs, elevator and other public areas by Friday morning.” So a passenger from Canada, on December 30, 2005, sailing on the Zuiderdam in the Holland America Line, reported to the website cruisejunkie.com.

Norovirus is a highly contagious gastrointestinal virus where the potential for someone who is sick to infect others exists from the moment they become sick, to at least 3 days after they get better. Disturbingly, some people remain contagious for up to 2 weeks after recovering. This may be a factor in successive cruises becoming infected. And it remains questionable whether sick passengers and crew are confined to their cabins for 3 days after they get better.

Whilst norovirus outbreaks are by no means confined to cruise ships, the nature of a cruise increases the likelihood of an infection spreading. This is similar to the potential for infections spreading in other closed communities like nursing homes. The ‘cruise ship virus’ can be spread through contaminated food and drink, which is particularly concerning if the crew members who serve or prepare food become sick.

Passengers can pick up the virus from touching infected surfaces like handrails, walls and mirrors. When a suspected norovirus outbreak occurs on a cruise ship, crew will spray disinfectant on all common surfaces, and sick passengers are confined to their staterooms.

Sick passengers and crew have acute symptoms of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some also have stomach cramps, headaches, a low grade fever, and chills. One 21 year old man actually died two days after disembarking from his ship. The cause of death was cited as being complications from a norovirus infection.

This isn’t common however. Norovirus infections are usually not significant health risks, though they are highly unpleasant, both for passengers and cruise ship companies. For passengers, what is meant to be a relaxing holiday turns into a retching and wretched nightmare at sea. For cruise companies with ever increasing ship capacities, it is a public relations nightmare.

With just 36 hours to circle the world by air, a time well below the incubation period of most diseases can be contracted in many countries around the world. Year after year, more and more people who undertake international travel, even in developing countries that were just beaten goals: reducing the cost of flights were offered to many, the opportunity to visit distant countries, often for the first time.

The more than 700 million passengers who travel each year on the planet have a significant risk of getting sick and becoming a vehicle of infection to other people when they get back home. Every traveler should be aware that protect your health also means protecting those of others and that to do so we must also respect the culture and environment of the destination of travel.

In recent years, health authorities around the world have understood the importance of protecting human health from possible outbreaks of infection or precarious sanitary situation of the countries visited. On the one hand, the risk can be minimized through appropriate precautions, prevention and vaccination, taken prior to departure. Secondly, the identification and timely treatment of an imported disease are essential for preventing the disease from transmitting to others, to become a serious public health problem.

Before you travel

To reduce the risk of getting sick or having accidents while you are abroad, the ideal is to contact your doctor 4-6 weeks before you leave. Among the general factors to consider are:

1. Pre-existing diseases or disorders

2.Vaccination status (including the possibility of vaccines against diseases endemic in the destination of travel)

3.Allergies to foods or medicines

4.Prescriptions being

5.Any previous trips.

Depending on the destination of the journey, we must then consider all those who may become risk factors:

* Food and water, are often not thoroughly purified in many countries around the world

* Environmental conditions to which the body is not accustomed (altitude, drought, temperature too high)

* Presence of parasites in the environment and in animals with whom you may come into contact (by insects in various invertebrates, until poultry)

* Sexual behaviors that may increase the risk of transmitting infections.

The characteristics of the journey and the destination are important: a roadmap, place and length of stay, conditions of hygiene, and reason for travel (tourism, business, educational, humanitarian mission, etc.), season of the year, possible exposure to risk factors, epidemic in progress.

There are some categories of especially vulnerable people who require more care during the sight: children, elderly, pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals, but also people who are preparing to make a trip “adventure.”

Prophylaxis and vaccination

Vaccination can be an effective preventive of many diseases that can be contracted during travel. When you are about to leave, you should first check to be up to date with vaccinations under the national program. In particular, in Italy are compulsory immunization against diphtheria and tetanus (DT), polio (IPV) and hepatitis B (Hb), while those are strongly recommended to protect from measles, mumps and rubella (MPR) and infections with Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib).

Depending on the destination then the journey will be recommended the vaccine or prophylaxis against certain specific diseases. Today, no country requires the certificate of vaccination against smallpox and against cholera. The only certificate that should be required in international travel, up to some travelers, is that against yellow fever. Many countries require an international certificate of vaccination valuable to travelers arriving from infected areas or who have transited through those areas, while some require a certificate to all travelers entering, including those in transit. That requirement goes beyond what is stated in the International Health Regulations, however, vaccination is strongly recommended for travel outside of urban areas in countries including in areas endemic for yellow fever.

As for malaria, for each country situated in endemic areas is recommended chemoprophylaxis specification, according to species and level of drug resistance parasites

Detailed information on the vaccination to visit different areas of the world can be found in many institutional sites, including the Ministry of Health, the WHO or Cdc Americans. Epicenter are also on a number of health topics relevant to those preparing to make a trip:

* Brucellosis

* Chikungunya

* Viral Hepatitis

* Dengue fever

* Lassa fever

* Marburg hemorrhagic fever

* Giardia

* Influence

* AI

* Legionellosis

* Leishmaniasis

* Listeria

* Malaria

* Sexually transmitted diseases

* Meningitis

* Norovirus

* Fever

* Rotavirus

* Salmonella

* Syphilis

* Tetanus

* Tossinfezioni food

* Toxoplasmosis

* Tuberculosis

* Vaccinations

* Smallpox

* Tick

* Zoonoses