Journal of travel medicine
Volume 24, Issue 5, 2017

Risk activities and pre-travel health seeking practices of notified cases of imported infectious diseases in Australia (Article) (Open Access)

Paudel P. , Raina C. , Zwar N. , Seale H. , Worth H. , Sheikh M. , Heywood A.E.
  • a School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • b School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • c School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • d School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • e School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • f School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia
  • g School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UNSW Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Background: Travellers are at risk of acquiring infectious diseases during travel, with risks differing by destination, travel and traveller characteristics. A pre-travel health consultation may minimize this risk. However, uptake of pre-travel health advice remains low. We investigated pre-travel health preparations and disease-specific risk behaviours among notified cases of selected travel-associated infectious diseases imported into Australia.Methods: Prospective enhanced surveillance of notified cases of typhoid, paratyphoid, measles, hepatitis A, hepatitis E, malaria and chikungunya was conducted in two Australian states between February 2013 and January 2014. Details of pre-travel health preparation and disease-specific risk behaviours were collected.Results: Among 180 cases associated with international travel, 28% were <18 years, 65% were VFR travellers and 22% were frequent travellers, having travelled ≥5 times in the past 5 years. 25% had sought pre-travel advice from a healthcare provider, and 16% reported a pre-travel vaccine. Seeking pre-travel health advice did not differ by immigrant status ( P  = 0.22) or by reason for travel ( P  = 0.13) but was more commonly sought by first time travellers ( P  = 0.03). Travellers visiting friends and relatives were more likely to report at-risk activities of brushing teeth with tap water ( P  < 0.001) and eating uncooked food ( P  = 0.03) during travel compared to other travellers.Conclusions: Pre-travel health advice seeking practices and vaccine uptake was suboptimal among cases of notified disease. The results of this study highlight the need for a better understanding of barriers to pre-travel health seeking, particularly among high risk travellers, to reduce the importation of infectious diseases into Australia. © International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: [email protected]

Author Keywords

Vaccine preventable disease ill-returned travellers health-seeking behaviours Infectious disease visiting friends and relatives

Index Keywords

prospective study Australia Population Surveillance Prospective Studies human middle aged travel Aged Young Adult Humans Adolescent Infant, Newborn male female Aged, 80 and over preschool child very elderly risk factor Infant Risk Factors Child, Preschool newborn Communicable Diseases, Imported high risk behavior Risk-Taking communicable disease adult patient attitude Patient Acceptance of Health Care Child health survey
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046986694&doi=10.1093%2fjtm%2ftax044&partnerID=40&md5=b92a07c3b7be80c6cfa9e98137de3abf
DOI: 10.1093/jtm/tax044
ISSN: 17088305
Cited by: 7
Original Language: English