14 DAY TRIAL // 30 million Americans travel every year to poorer areas of the world, and only half of them look for health advice or vaccinations before departure.
Global mobility is great but it can contribute to spreading infectious diseases like influenza, measles and meningitis, and increase the risk for international travelers of getting malaria, typhoid, hepatitis and dengue fever.
The best examples of the role that travelers play in disseminating infectious diseases are the fast spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2002-2003 and new influenza strains in 2009.
Also, the dengue fever, which is normally found in the Caribbean, Latin America and Asia, has been reported in the southern United States, lately.
And last but, unfortunately, not least, an epidemic of Chikungunya from India was brought to Italy by travelers.
Edward Ryan, MD, director of the Tropical and Geographic Medicine Center in the Division of Infectious Diseases at MGH and a senior author of the study said that “international travel is the primary way many infections traverse the world.
“What many people don't realize is that, without seeking the correct health information, they are putting themselves at increased risk of infection, as well as creating a public health risk in their home communities after they return.”
A new study carried out by the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), found that 46% of world travelers take no health safety measures before going to a resource-limited country.
This survey included over 1,200 international travelers, flying from the United States at Boston Logan International Airport.
38% of study participants were traveling to low- and low-middle income countries (according to the World Bank's World Development Report) and 46% of them showed no interest whatsoever for health advice before leaving, the most frequent reason for this being the total lack of concern about eventual health problems.
The least susceptible of looking for health information were foreign-born travelers, including those who went to visit family and friends, and those flying alone or for vacation.
Because the other 54% who did look for health advice, mainly accessed the Internet and went to primary care practitioners – PCPs, these two resources are very promising for spreading “information about traveling safety,” said the study's lead author Regina C. LaRocque, MD, MPH, of MGH's Division of Infectious Diseases.
She added that “offering online resources at the time of ticket purchase or through popular travel websites would likely reach a large audience of people in need of health advice.”
This study is the result of a wide collaboration between MGH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Boston Public Health Commission, and officials from the Massachusetts Port Authority, owner and operator of the Logan International Airport.
The results were published in the Journal of Travel Medicine.