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- Risks and illnesses
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- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 04 June 2014 13:30
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Tonia Buzzolini*
Who should get vaccinated against rabies before heading overseas?
Until recently, the conventional thinking among travel medicine professionals was that the length of the trip and the destination should be the main deciding factors.
That is, pre-travel rabies vaccination was for people travelling to, or living in, a country with a high incidence of rabies for more than one month – particularly if they were at higher risk of animal bites because they‘re backpacking in rural areas, travelling by motorbike or bicycle, working with animals etc.
For stays of less than a month, a warning to avoid contact with animals and to seek medical treatment urgently if bitten was thought to be enough.
There were a number of reasons for this pragmatic attitude.
Firstly, rabies deaths remain rare among travellers. This may be because rabies infection is usually slow to appear and most westerners do eventually get treatment AFTER they get bitten, preventing infection. Yet an estimated 55,000 people die from rabies each year, according to the World Health Organisation, with most of its victims failing to access timely post-exposure treatment (or unable to afford it.)
Secondly, the cost of the vaccine – around $300 for the 3 doses – is prohibitive. Travellers on a budget were reluctant to get it when they were already up for other travel immunisations to protect them against diseases considered a higher risk.
Thirdly, rabies vaccine is administered over at least 3 weeks (the standard 0, 7, and 28 days can be accelerated to 0, 7, and 21 days). All too frequently, travellers don’t leave themselves the ideal 4-6 weeks to begin vaccinations prior to travel.
All of which often puts the subject of rabies vaccination firmly in the dog house during pre-travel medical consultations.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 21 May 2014 12:05
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Dr Eddy Bajrovic, Medical Director, Travelvax Australia.
Many of the world’s 7 billion people still do not have access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation.
Despite global progress in the last 20 years, sharp geographic, socio-cultural, and economic inequalities persist between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF entitled ‘Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation 2014’.
Among its key findings, the report revealed that:
– 2.5 billion people, living mainly in Asia (66%) and sub-Saharan Africa (25%), still use ‘unimproved sanitation facilities’.
– 1 billion people (82% of whom live in rural areas of 10 countries in Asia and Africa) defecate on the open ground.
– 748 million people must drink contaminated water. Again, most live in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
So, why should Australians care? After all, we live in a wealthy, developed country with clean air, effective sewage treatment and effluent disposal systems, and safe drinking water.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 07 May 2014 20:39
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
The countdown is on to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil starting on June 13.
If you’ve booked your tickets to see the Socceroos in action (or you’re about to) NOW is the time to get the required and recommended vaccinations.
Most vaccinations can be given at one time but a few may need to be spaced out over a month, so make an appointment for your pre-travel medical THIS WEEK. With time short, a travel medicine clinic can advise just what shots you need for your individual Cup ‘campaign’ and provide them on the spot (no delays having to get prescriptions filled).
Along with that reminder, the ‘coaches’ at Team Travelvax also want to pass on the results of a large, international survey of travellers who returned with an illness from Brazil. The findings offer an accurate and revealing insight into the potential health problems World Cup fans are most likely to encounter during the month-long festival of football, and how to defend against them.
The 16-year study was conducted by members of the GeoSentinel network of specialist travel medicine clinics, which are located around the world, and the data were analysed by internationally recognised leaders in the fields of infectious and tropical diseases. Most of the 1586 travellers were young adults and they were treated by the clinics’ doctors for a variety of skin conditions (40% of cases), acute diarrhoea (25%), or illnesses involving a fever (19%), mainly dengue or malaria.
(It should be remembered that the survey represents the tip of the iceberg: Many more travellers who return with illness would first see their GP, then perhaps a tropical or infectious diseases physician.)
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 30 April 2014 20:40
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
By Dr Eddy Bajrovic, Medical Director, Travelvax Australia.
“Dengue fever at record global levels”
“Chikungunya fever sweeps through Caribbean”
“Zika virus returns to Pacific”
Headlines about the increasing number of cases of these three mosquito-borne diseases have been all too common this year.
Australia’s been lucky: our geographic isolation has meant that while outbreaks of dengue occur in North Queensland each summer (155 to date this year), we’ve had relatively few cases of Chikungunya (19) and Zika (2) – all of them involving people infected while holidaying overseas.
So, you could be forgiven for thinking that malaria – the most lethal of all the mozzie diseases – is off the radar. That’s not the case.
What’s true is that malaria mortality rates have fallen by 42% globally since 2000 and by 49% in Africa, where many of the estimated 600,000-plus cases occur each year. (Tragically, despite the strides made in controlling and even eliminating malaria, it kills one African child every minute.)
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 23 April 2014 19:28
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
MERS. Ebola. Bird Flu. They are the abbreviated names of three nasty viruses – Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome–Coronavirus, Ebola virus disease (EVD), and A(H7N9) avian influenza.
Right now, each one is causing concern and even some alarm in the international medical community, as well as for the governments and people of the regions where they are occurring – Ebola in West Africa, MERS in the Middle East, and bird flu in Asia, particularly China.
Much remains unknown about all 3 viruses, and the concern they are generating is understandable because:
- Each has demonstrated the ability (albeit limited to this point) to jump the species barrier from animals to humans.
- Death rates are high, although transmission rates are relatively low.
- There are no effective vaccines or specific treatment medication, although scientists around the world are racing to create them.
- Details
- Category: Risks and illnesses
- Published: Wednesday, 16 April 2014 19:07
- Written by Administrator Travelvax
The World Health Organization (WHO) has renewed its warning to travellers not to buy medications overseas following new reports of counterfeit antimalarial medications.
Labelled Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine and Quinine Sulphate, the counterfeit drugs were uncovered late last month in Central and West Africa.
The pills, which contained less than 2% of the active ingredients, turned up in several locations, including a drug wholesaler’s warehouse and a hospital.
Unlike more sophisticated fakes, the latest haul had obvious flaws, including misspelt labels on the package and a WHO Essential Drugs Programme logo that is no longer in use.
“Travellers should obtain all anti-malarials and other medicines before travel,” the WHO said in its alert. “Do not buy anti-malarials and other medicines directly from shops, markets, or street traders.”
