Travel Infectious Diseases Overview
Find out more about infectious diseases which you may need to be vaccinated against when traveling to certain destinations. Depending on your destination and activities, some of the common travel health infectious diseases of concern include
Yellow Fever, Hepatitis (Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis D, Hepatitis E, and Hepatitis G), Malaria, Typhoid, Polio,
Tetanus, Meningitis (or Meningococcal Disease), Japanese Encephalitis, Cholera, and Rabies.
Some destinations require a certificate of proof for vaccination against Yellow Fever or Meningitis, called an International Certificate of Vaccination. These certificates can be obtained from Authorized or Designated Yellow Fever Vaccination Clinics after following the full course of a vaccine immunization schedule at your local travel centre.
These travel medicine diseases are sometimes subject to local outbreaks, and so are the subject of specific Travel Medical Advisories and Travel Health Alerts. Your travel health professional can advise you further during the travel vaccination consultation at their travel vaccination clinic.
Travel Infectious Disease Profiles
Click the links to the right to learn more about a particular travel disease which
may be related to your destination or your planned activities during your trip.
Each disease profile will inform you of the symptoms of the disease, the methods
of disease transmission, the regions or travel destinations where that travel disease
is endemic or at higher risk for transmission, any general public health travel
advice or health precautions which may help you avoid getting infected, and information
about vaccines and vaccination against the disease.
Through the travel disease medical information presented on these pages, you will
have a better understanding of travel disease and health-related risks that may
be applicable while travelling through your travel destination. Together with a
medical travel health vaccination consultation with a travel health clinic professional,
you will be better protected, giving you peace of mind and leaving you to thoroughly
enjoy your trip!
The Importance of Travel Disease Vaccination
As you will discover from reading the individual travel infectious disease profiles,
communicable disease control often relies on vaccinating yourself against a tropical
communicable disease before you are at risk of being exposed to the infectious travel
disease.
This is because for some contagious travel diseases, there is no treatment once
infected. So the focus is on vaccination and immunization to immunize yourself from
harm should you be infected with the bacterium or virus, as a proactive preventative
measure.
So if you will be traveling into tropical areas or areas where these communicable
diseases are endemic or prevalent, contact your local travel immunization center
to receive a vaccine for travel. The earlier before you travel that you arrange
a travel consultation appointment at your travel centre, the greater your vaccination
options are, and your chances of establishing complete immunity before you travel
are better due to being able to complete the entire recommended immunization schedule
with the recommended vaccine.
Common Modes of Travel-Related Communicable Disease Transmission
These infectious diseases spread through common patterns of transmission, and so communicable disease prevention also follows these patterns in trying to mitigate the spread of these contagious diseases through limiting their disease transmission vectors.
Some of these contagious diseases are spread from person to person through contact with bodily fluids of infected persons, and so densely-populated or crowded areas pose an increased risk for these types of diseases.
Other diseases are spread by mosquitos in tropical regions and equitorial countries, so traveling outside of urban areas in these regions pose an increased risk.
Some diseases are transmitted through accidental ingestion of fecal matter from infected people, so countries with poor hygiene or poor sanitation pose an increased risk of disease transmission. These often include countries in tropical regions such as Central and South America, Africa, the Middle East, India, and South and Southeast Asia.
Your local travel centre or travel clinic can advise you further on the specific travel comminicable disease you may encounter on your trip to your travel destination.