-
Latest News
- Risks and illnesses
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 08 October 2014 13:48
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Dr Eddy Bajrovic*
“But, I had that vaccine when I was a kid. Surely I don’t need it again?”
It’s a plaintive plea we hear every day in Travelvax Australia’s clinics, as well as from prospective travellers who call our travel health advisory service (1300 360 164) seeking guidance on the potential health risks of their upcoming overseas trip.
When it comes to the immunisations we routinely had – or should have had – in childhood, it’s a common misconception that they last for life.
So, it often comes as a shock when we have to tell adults that they may well need a booster or two to protect them from some of the diseases they thought they were no longer at risk of.
Ironically, many of the diseases which once killed youngsters in their hundreds have indeed been eliminated in Australia.
However, some have made a comeback around the world in recent years, especially measles and whooping cough (also called pertussis). Not just in developing regions of the world, but in industrialised countries in North America and Western Europe, too.
Australia hasn’t escaped epidemics of these vaccine-preventable diseases. We recorded more than 140,000 cases of whooping cough between 2008 and 2012, while measles rates are currently at record levels. The 304 measles cases recorded to date this year is already almost double last year’s total.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 24 September 2014 11:39
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Dr Eddy Bajrovic*
The medical world is buzzing over the rarest of events – someone surviving rabies.
The 16-year-old boy from Gurdaspur, in India’s Punjab State, was bitten by a stray dog in late March this year. He subsequently received 4 doses of anti-rabies vaccine, but did not receive the critical initial dose of human rabies immune globulin (HRIG).
Although the teen recently emerged from a four month-long coma, he has neurological damage and is unable to speak, according to a news report.
The unnamed boy is only one of a handful of people known to have survived rabies infection. Experts attribute their survival to a natural immune response, possibly because they were young and were exposed to a less virulent ‘bat variant’ form of the normally lethal virus.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 17 September 2014 11:38
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Laurie Sullivan
One-in-3 people who travel overseas can expect a tummy bug.
For most healthy adults, travellers’ diarrhoea is rarely serious or life-threatening, but it can make for an unpleasant episode during or just after your dream holiday.
But, what if the effects of this nasty travel memento were to linger for more than 6 YEARS?
It’s possible with the parasitic disease, giardiasis, one of the most common causes of gastrointestinal infections (GIs) among travellers.
Scientists recently published the results of a long-term study of 1252 people with giardiasis infected during an outbreak in Canada in 2004. When the researchers interviewed the group 3 years later in 2007, they found that 39% had irritable bowel syndrome while 30% were suffering from chronic fatigue.
Six years later in 2010, the incidence of irritable bowel had decreased only marginally from 39% to 32% of those originally infected, while the incidence of chronic fatigue dropped by half from 30% to 15%.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 30 July 2014 20:37
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
by Laurie Sullivan
Monday (July 28) was World Hepatitis Day. When a disease has its own special day, you know that it’s serious and we should know more about it.
Sadly, we don’t. Hepatitis remains largely ignored, undiagnosed, and stigmatised, according to the World Health Organisation.
Viral hepatitis is not one but a group of infectious diseases – Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E.
Transmitted via food and water (Hep A and E) or through infected blood, body fluids, or unprotected sex (Hep B, C, and D), they affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic liver disease. On average, 1.4 million people die each year from hepatitis.
Most developing countries have a high burden of disease, which is why Australians heading overseas should be aware of the risks of infection and consider getting vaccinated against the two most common types – Hep A and B.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 02 July 2014 12:34
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
Ebola in West Africa, A(H7N9) in China, MERS-CoV in the Middle East, and Chikungunya in the Caribbean – they’ve been among the major global health issues of the year.
Each has captured headlines, causing fear among locals and apprehension among travellers.
And, with good reason. Although their transmission rates have been relatively low, Ebola, MERS, H7N9 have resulted in high death rates, while Chikungunya has swept through the Caribbean and, more recently, into Central and South America.
Fuelling concern for travellers has been the lack of an effective vaccine or treatment medication for any of these potentially deadly diseases.
For travellers heading to effected regions, here’s an update on the current situation and some simple illness prevention advice.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 18 June 2014 12:01
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
America has the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); France boasts Medicine Sans Frontières (MSF).
Now, Australia has the Australian Response Masters of Applied Epidemiology or ARM, which was officially launched in Melbourne on Monday.
Epidemiology is the science that studies the patterns, causes, and effects of health and diseases. A cornerstone of public health, it informs policy decisions by governments and evidence-based medical practice by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive healthcare.
Literally a ‘flying squad’ of public health specialists, ARM brings together Australia’s best and brightest medical professionals.
Its members include doctors, nurses, veterinarians, scientists, and public health officials from around Australia.
At the request of the World Health Organization and other international bodies, teams of Australian volunteers will rush to disasters and help prevent or limit the spread of infectious disease.
A group of Australian specialist epidemiologists has already shown its value, with several experts sent to respond to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in 2013.
