Travel medicine and infectious disease
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Tungiasis is a parasitic skin disease caused by the penetration of female sand fleas (Tunga penetrans). It is acquired when people walk barefoot or rest on soil, where sand fleas have completed the off-host cycle. ⋯ It has a Janus-face: while in travellers tungiasis usually is a benign self-limiting skin disease, inhabitants of endemic areas suffer from heavy infestations and severe, frequently debilitating and incapacitating morbidity. We describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of travel-associated tungiasis and compare these features to the situation in resource-poor communities in South America and sub-Saharan Africa.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · Jul 2013
Case ReportsNosocomial infection of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in eastern Iran: case report.
An outbreak of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever occurred in the county of Birjand in eastern Iran in November 2011. Four cases were involved in this outbreak. Two patients died after admission to hospital, one of whom was a nurse who acquired the infection nosocomially, and the others were treated successfully.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · Mar 2013
Case ReportsRhabdomyolysis secondary to influenza A H1N1 vaccine resulting in acute kidney injury.
Influenza A infection has been described as a major viral cause of infection-induced rhabdomyolysis, but to date, only one reported case was described as having been induced by influenza vaccine. We describe a case of a man who had been using statins and developed rhabdomyolysis the day after influenza A H1N1 vaccination. A 58-year-old man was admitted at the emergency room complaining of impaired gait. ⋯ This is a rare side effect of influenza A H1N1 vaccine. Physicians should advise patients to seek medical care when muscle symptoms are present and consider the possibility of rhabdomyolysis due to vaccination. Trials are required to better define the incidence of this important side effect.
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Travel Med Infect Dis · Mar 2013
Measles transmission during air travel, United States, December 1, 2008-December 31, 2011.
Flight-related measles contact investigations in the United States are coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To evaluate the efficiency of CDC's measles protocol, we analyzed data from contact investigations conducted December 2008-December 2011. ⋯ Our evaluation provided evidence of measles transmission related to air travel. CDC's protocol efficiently identifies passengers most at risk of exposure and infection for flights into and within the United States.