Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011

Background: International travel continues to increase, particularly to Asia and Africa. Clinicians are increasingly likely to be consulted for advice before travel or by ill returned travelers. Objective: To describe typical diseases in returned travelers according to region, travel reason, and...

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Main Authors: Toressi, Joseph, Leder, Karin, Libman, Michael D., Cramer, Jakob P., Castelli, Francesco, Schlagenhauf, Patricia, Wilder-Smith, Annelies, Wilson, Mary E., Keystone, Jay S., Schwartz, Eli, Barnett, Elizabeth D., Sonnenburg, Frank von, Brownstein, John S., Cheng, Allen C., Sotir, Mark J., Esposito, Douglas H., Freedman, David O.
Other Authors: Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2014
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103867
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/24071
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1038672022-02-16T16:31:23Z Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011 Toressi, Joseph Leder, Karin Libman, Michael D. Cramer, Jakob P. Castelli, Francesco Schlagenhauf, Patricia Wilder-Smith, Annelies Wilson, Mary E. Keystone, Jay S. Schwartz, Eli Barnett, Elizabeth D. Sonnenburg, Frank von Brownstein, John S. Cheng, Allen C. Sotir, Mark J. Esposito, Douglas H. Freedman, David O. Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) DRNTU::Science::Medicine Background: International travel continues to increase, particularly to Asia and Africa. Clinicians are increasingly likely to be consulted for advice before travel or by ill returned travelers. Objective: To describe typical diseases in returned travelers according to region, travel reason, and patient demographic characteristics; describe the pattern of low-frequency travel-associated diseases; and refine key messages for care before and after travel. Design: Descriptive, using GeoSentinel records. Setting: 53 tropical or travel disease units in 24 countries. Patients: 42 173 ill returned travelers seen between 2007 and 2011. Measurements: Frequencies of demographic characteristics, regions visited, and illnesses reported. Results: Asia (32.6%) and sub-Saharan Africa (26.7%) were the most common regions where illnesses were acquired. Three quarters of travel-related illness was due to gastrointestinal (34.0%), febrile (23.3%), and dermatologic (19.5%) diseases. Only 40.5% of all ill travelers reported pretravel medical visits. The relative frequency of many diseases varied with both travel destination and reason for travel, with travelers visiting friends and relatives in their country of origin having both a disproportionately high burden of serious febrile illness and very low rates of advice before travel (18.3%). Life-threatening diseases, such as Plasmodium falciparum malaria, melioidosis, and African trypanosomiasis, were reported. Limitations: Sentinel surveillance data collected by specialist clinics do not reflect healthy returning travelers or those with mild or self-limited illness. Data cannot be used to infer quantitative risk for illness. Conclusion: Many illnesses may have been preventable with appropriate advice, chemoprophylaxis, or vaccination. Clinicians can use these 5-year GeoSentinel data to help tailor more efficient pretravel preparation strategies and evaluate possible differential diagnoses of ill returned travelers according to destination and reason for travel. Primary Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Accepted version 2014-10-17T08:40:52Z 2019-12-06T21:21:54Z 2014-10-17T08:40:52Z 2019-12-06T21:21:54Z 2013 2013 Journal Article Leder, K., Torresi, J., Libman, M. D., Cramer, J. P., Castelli, F., Schlagenhauf, P., et al. (2013). Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011. Annals of internal medicine, 158(6), 1-10. 0003-4819 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103867 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/24071 10.7326/0003-4819-158-6-201303190-00005 23552375 en Annals of internal medicine © 2013 American College of Physicians. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Annals of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [http://dx.doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-158-6-201303190-00005]. 15 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic DRNTU::Science::Medicine
spellingShingle DRNTU::Science::Medicine
Toressi, Joseph
Leder, Karin
Libman, Michael D.
Cramer, Jakob P.
Castelli, Francesco
Schlagenhauf, Patricia
Wilder-Smith, Annelies
Wilson, Mary E.
Keystone, Jay S.
Schwartz, Eli
Barnett, Elizabeth D.
Sonnenburg, Frank von
Brownstein, John S.
Cheng, Allen C.
Sotir, Mark J.
Esposito, Douglas H.
Freedman, David O.
Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
description Background: International travel continues to increase, particularly to Asia and Africa. Clinicians are increasingly likely to be consulted for advice before travel or by ill returned travelers. Objective: To describe typical diseases in returned travelers according to region, travel reason, and patient demographic characteristics; describe the pattern of low-frequency travel-associated diseases; and refine key messages for care before and after travel. Design: Descriptive, using GeoSentinel records. Setting: 53 tropical or travel disease units in 24 countries. Patients: 42 173 ill returned travelers seen between 2007 and 2011. Measurements: Frequencies of demographic characteristics, regions visited, and illnesses reported. Results: Asia (32.6%) and sub-Saharan Africa (26.7%) were the most common regions where illnesses were acquired. Three quarters of travel-related illness was due to gastrointestinal (34.0%), febrile (23.3%), and dermatologic (19.5%) diseases. Only 40.5% of all ill travelers reported pretravel medical visits. The relative frequency of many diseases varied with both travel destination and reason for travel, with travelers visiting friends and relatives in their country of origin having both a disproportionately high burden of serious febrile illness and very low rates of advice before travel (18.3%). Life-threatening diseases, such as Plasmodium falciparum malaria, melioidosis, and African trypanosomiasis, were reported. Limitations: Sentinel surveillance data collected by specialist clinics do not reflect healthy returning travelers or those with mild or self-limited illness. Data cannot be used to infer quantitative risk for illness. Conclusion: Many illnesses may have been preventable with appropriate advice, chemoprophylaxis, or vaccination. Clinicians can use these 5-year GeoSentinel data to help tailor more efficient pretravel preparation strategies and evaluate possible differential diagnoses of ill returned travelers according to destination and reason for travel. Primary Funding Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
author2 Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
author_facet Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine)
Toressi, Joseph
Leder, Karin
Libman, Michael D.
Cramer, Jakob P.
Castelli, Francesco
Schlagenhauf, Patricia
Wilder-Smith, Annelies
Wilson, Mary E.
Keystone, Jay S.
Schwartz, Eli
Barnett, Elizabeth D.
Sonnenburg, Frank von
Brownstein, John S.
Cheng, Allen C.
Sotir, Mark J.
Esposito, Douglas H.
Freedman, David O.
format Article
author Toressi, Joseph
Leder, Karin
Libman, Michael D.
Cramer, Jakob P.
Castelli, Francesco
Schlagenhauf, Patricia
Wilder-Smith, Annelies
Wilson, Mary E.
Keystone, Jay S.
Schwartz, Eli
Barnett, Elizabeth D.
Sonnenburg, Frank von
Brownstein, John S.
Cheng, Allen C.
Sotir, Mark J.
Esposito, Douglas H.
Freedman, David O.
author_sort Toressi, Joseph
title Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
title_short Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
title_full Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
title_fullStr Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
title_full_unstemmed Geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
title_sort geosentinel surveillance of illness in returned travelers, 2007–2011
publishDate 2014
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103867
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/24071
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