Profile and complexity of travel medicine consultations in Chile: unicentric cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo analyse the spectrum, vaccination needs and pretravel advice complexity of travellers presenting at a travel medicine clinic in Santiago, Chile.DesignCross-sectional study.SettingPretravel consultations in a private healthcare centre in Chile, an ‘emerging market’ country in South America.ParticipantsTravellers (n=1341) seeking pretravel advice at the Travel Medicine Program of Clínica Alemana, Santiago, from April 2016 to March 2018.Primary and secondary outcome measuresDemographical and travel characteristics, indications for travel vaccines and malaria prophylaxis, and complexity of travel consultations.ResultsOf 1341 travellers, 51% were female; the median age was 33 years. Most frequent travel reasons were tourism (67%) and business (20%). Median travel duration and time to departure were 21 days and 28 days, respectively. Most destinations were located in America (41%), followed by Asia (36%) and Africa (26%); 96% visited less developed countries, mostly in tropical regions, with risk of arboviral infections (94%) and malaria (69%). The indicated vaccine indications comprised hepatitis A (84%), yellow fever (58%), typhoid fever (51%), rabies (29%), polio (8%), Japanese encephalitis (6%) and meningococcal meningitis (5%). More than 60% of consultations were classified as complex.ConclusionThe studied population mostly visited less developed tropical regions, resulting in a high requirement of yellow fever and other travel-related vaccinations. Most consultations were complex and required a comprehensive knowledge and training in travel medicine.

Knowledge and Attitudes About Travel Medicine in Latin America in the Context of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…15 As for the surveyed ones, 7214 (77.2%) of them were willing to pay to be vaccinated, which suggests that despite vaccination not being available in the public health services and not having the habit of making a pretravel consultation, Latin Americans are willing to adopt the necessary preventive measures to reduce the risk of becoming ill as a result of the trip, and thus avoid the spread of infectious diseases when returning to their countries. Unlike industrialized countries where there are more studies on pre-travel consultations in travel medicine centers, 16 a limited number of studies have been conducted in the region. From 1984 to 2008, 92 published papers were identified through Medline applying for the Medical Subject Heading "Travel Medicine" with their provenance in Latin American countries; this represented 1.7% of the total number of publications on "Travel Medicine" in the world found through Medline during the same period.…”

Awareness of Russian tourists traveling to tropical and equatorial countries about the prevention of infectious diseases during travel

“…Во многих развитых странах проводится сбор статистики, связанной с выездами за рубеж, проводятся консультации путешественников до и после поездки [3,8]. Центры по медицине путешествий собирают данные о хронических заболеваниях туристов, месте проживания, уровне вакцинации, заболеваниях во время поездки для совершенствования консультаций перед путешествием и повышения эффективности профилактических мер [1, 3,8].…”