16 January 2006

Publication on imported infectious disease and travel medicine

A paper in the 12 January 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine reports on the wide range of diseases in returned travellers who were evaluated in the global sites of the GeoSentinel Network [1]. GeoSentinel is a program of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the International Society of Travel Medicine [2].

In this same issue of the Journal, Professor David Hill, the Director of NaTHNaC, has written a perspective piece on the article that puts this information into the overall context of the field of travel medicine [3].

Information on disease imported to England, Wales and Northern Ireland can be found in the monograph recently published by the Travel and Migrant Health Section of the Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections, a partner with NaTHNaC [4]. Using such information to inform decisions about health advice in international travellers should lead to improved targeting of prevention measures.

References

1. Freedman DO, Weld LH, Kozarsky PE, et al. Spectrum of disease and relation to place of exposure among ill returned travelers. N Engl J Med 2006;354:119-130. Full  text and pdf available at:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/2/119?ijkey=a4GBuaG

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2. GeoSentinel. A global surveillance network of the ISTM and CDC. Web-link: http://www.istm.org/geosentinel/main.html

3. Hill DR. The burden of illness in international travelers. N Engl J Med 2006;354:115-7. Full text and pdf available at: http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/2/115?ijkey=8P96Iok4

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4. Health Protection Agency. Foreign travel-associated illness.  England, Wales, and Northern Ireland - Annual Report 2005. London: Health Protection Agency Centre for Infections; 2005. Available at: http://www.hpa.org.uk/webw/HPAweb&HPAwebStandard/HPAweb_C/1203496904956?p=1158945066450