Wednesday, January 29, 2014

‘Prevention is better than cure’-Does it implies to travellers?

Travelling to remote locations means you will be prone to diseases. Therefore, before travelling to any location, it is must for a traveller to get vaccinated.

The Centre of Disease Control and Prevention, advices travellers to get immunized, before a trip. This because it is vital to be protected against infections or diseases like yellow fever, cholera, hepatitis A and B, and typhoid to name a few.

However, there are few factors that travel clinic doctor take care of before giving travel vaccinations to travellers in NY or anywhere else.

The foremost thing that doctor asks the traveller is location or country where he or she is visiting. Depending on the place where traveller will head, doctor will provide the relevant vaccine to him or her. 

Next factor to consider is season. This is because many diseases are dependent on the certain period of time. For example, rainy season in some area of location is ought to provide diseases like malaria which can be life threatening.

Besides season, the area where one is staying is also must to consider. This is because if traveller is staying in a rural location he or she is more prone to diseases as compared to traveller who will be residing in an urban area. The quite obvious fact behind it is rural areas are not clean and can tend to make people ill.

Next factor is age and health of traveller. If person visiting the remote location is of old age and is prone to some medical problems then he or she has higher risk of getting infected to diseases prevalent in remote locations.

People who are suffering from immune deficiencies or have some major illness like HIV, they cannot get themselves vaccinated because travel vaccines can cause health issues to them. However, doctor will let the traveller know all the facts beforehand but to be on a safe side voyager must also tell each and everything clearly to the travel doctor.

Last but not the least factor is activities in which one is involved. For example, a health professional, who has come to Africa on a medical trip, he or she will be prone to diseases because they would have to come in touch with various patients which might be infected with diseases prevalent in Africa like yellow fever.