University of Sydney (Bachelor of Medicine/Surgery)
Traveling and Vaccinations – Preparing for at-risk travel:
“Exotic paradise” is often enough to get anyone dreaming about their next holiday destination, however travellers often forget to focus on the not-so-fun reality of health risk they may face in some regions.
Many of us will travel to overseas at-risk destinations (regions with known risk of contracting an infectious disease) without preparing adequately. In fact half of travellers to at-risk destinations did not get vaccinated before their last trip, and one in four travelling will fall ill on their trip.
What vaccines do you need?
Your family doctor is the best person in providing this information and tailoring the recommendations. It is important to properly assess:
- Travel destination
- Length of trip
- Planned activities during the trip
- Previous immunisations received
Required:
There are 2 situations where specific vaccines are mandated for travel
- Yellow fever vaccine is required if travelling to certain endemic areas and entry may be denied to those not vaccinated. In addition, many countries require that travellers arriving from countries with a risk of yellow fever virus transmission provide evidence of yellow fever vaccination prior to entry.
- Meningococcal vaccine is required if travelling for the Hajj annual Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Recommended:
Recommended travel vaccination should be tailored to the individual traveller, based on traveller and trip factors, likelihood of repeated travel, time until departure, vaccine interactions and safety of vaccines for the person.
Most travel vaccines are recommended rather than mandated. Recommendations are based on advice of the Centre for Disease Control and World Health Organisation that monitor disease activity and adjust recommendations based on risk.
Some of the likely diseases that travellers will face in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and India include hepatitis A, typhoid, rabies, Japanese encephalitis, cholera, meningococcal disease and polio. Most of which can be vaccinated for.
As part of planning for your next holiday, do not forget to check if you require any vaccination prior to travel.