Recent Trends in Infectious Diseases for Travellers

Abstract

In the early 1970s medicine was considered to have conquered infectious diseases. The following three decades have shown this optimism to be misplaced, with both traditional infections increasing in prevalence and novel diseases appearing. Many of these diseases have become major problems in developing countries, and coupled with the exponential growth in international traffic now pose a significant risk to the traveller. The threat to the package tourist differs greatly from that to the businessman, soldier or backpacker. The latter groups may have little control over their food and water supplies and be exposed to vector-borne and zoonotic infections normally restricted to remote locations. However the package holidaymaker may be involved in mass outbreaks of food poisoning with novel pathogens or acquire unusual infections from close proximity to other tourists. All groups may be susceptible to diseases transmitted during travel, and these may be more common than is presently recognised. The common factor is that all such infections may be transported around the world within their incubation period, and that any disease can now present to any doctor. Today more than ever before it is incumbent on any practitioner to ask not only 'where have you been?' but also 'what were you doing there?'

Indonesian Migrant Workers: The Migration Process and Vulnerability to COVID‐19

“…Migrant workers, especially those travelling by airplane, inhale recirculated air during the journey [ 65 ]. Although there is few evidence to this effect, there is a long-held belief in some circles that respiratory infections are commonly transmitted onboard aircrafts [ 66 ]. Therefore, in the context of contagious diseases such as COVID-19, IMWs are assumed to be prone to the virus while on the airplane.…”

Digestive Discomforts and Effect of Ingested Food in People Performing Hajj

“…There is variety of reasons of such incidences. In the Hajj period, a large number of people with varied cultures, customs and habits from all over the world gather and that influence the hygiene standards [15,16]. The outbreak of food poisoning directly or indirectly relates to food handlers [17][18][19].…”

TIMBERT: Toponym Identifier For The Medical Domain Based on BERT

“…Phylogeographers, who study the geographic distribution of viruses, have long linked the increase in the geographical spread of viruses (Gautret et al, 2012;Green and Roberts, 2000) to the growth in global tourism and international trade of goods. Most notably, in December 2019, a pneumonia-like disease, later dubbed COVID-19, that was detected in the city of Wuhan, China quickly became a world pandemic mainly due to global travels (World Health Organization, 2020b;World Health Organization, 2020a).…”