Journal of travel medicine
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Malaria diagnosis in non-endemic countries is questioned by lack of experience and low levels of parasite densities. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is aimed at simplifying these challenges. In a prospective evaluation over a 2-year period, LAMP significantly simplified malaria identification in 478 febrile travellers and can be considered the primary diagnostic test in this setting.
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Dengue is a frequent cause of febrile illness among travellers and has overtaken malaria as the leading cause of febrile illness for those traveling to Southeast Asia. The purpose is to review the risk of dengue and severe dengue in travellers with a particular focus on the pathogenesis and clinical management of severe dengue. ⋯ Although dengue is a frequent cause of travel illness, severe dengue and deaths are rare. Nevertheless, dengue infections can interrupt travel and lead to evacuation and major out-of-pocket costs. Dengue is more frequent than many other travel-related vaccine preventable diseases, such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies, Japanese encephalitis and yellow fever, indicating a need for a dengue vaccine for travellers.
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Multicenter Study
Ebola virus outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the potential for further transmission through commercial air travel.
The 2018-2019 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), continues to spread. The recent discovery of cases in Uganda and in Goma, a major city in the eastern DRC, raises concern for potential EVD transmission in distant locales via commercial air travel. ⋯ There is little commercial airline connectivity from the current EVD-affected area; however, larger cities in DRC and throughout East Africa should be aware of the low potential for EVD importation through this route. Most countries at greatest risk for EVD importation have limited capacity to manage these cases.
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There are few studies of the incidence of health problems among travelers to Southeast Asia. The current study sought to determine the incidence of self-reported health problems among travelers visiting the region. ⋯ In this prospective cohort study we observed substantial burden of acute diarrhea and skin and respiratory symptoms among travelers to Southeast Asia. The higher incidence of diarrhea in the first 2 weeks of travel should be further investigated.