Survey Reveals Travellers at Risk

Whilst this survey was completed in Australia the general trend is world wide. this is not meant to scare, but to enhance awareness..

In the lead up to the Christmas holiday season, new survey results released today by the Travel Health Advisory Group indicate nearly one in 10 Australians have had an accident overseas whilst two in 10 Australians have had to seek medical treatment overseas.

Additional studies have also found that between 5% and 8% of travellers experienced an accident while travelling, and 15.6% of travellers reported having sought medical care owing to illness or accident during their stay overseas.  Dr Bernie Hudson, microbiologist and infectious disease physician at Royal North Shore Hospital said that its difficult to predict accidents or illness whilst travelling overseas, adding "If an accident does occur, medical treatment overseas can put travellers at risk from infectious diseases such as hepatitis B, especially when travelling to developing countries". He added that the medical procedures that can put travellers at risk include use of equipment containing blood-borne viruses such as needles and surgical tools, intravenous therapy, blood transfusions or dental procedures.

A review of the literature that included reports from the World Health Organization found that more than 50% of injections in developing countries are unsafe, this being because syringes and needles are often re-used on consecutive patients without sterilisation.  This lack of sterilisation can lead to infection by blood-borne viruses like hepatitis B.
Furthermore, he says that a large percentage of travellers are not seeking travel health advice before their trip, with one recent Australian survey (2006) finding that only 23% of travellers seek advice, and a recent international review finding nearly half of travellers did not seek advice. Dr Bernie Hudson agrees that travellers remain complacent about seeking travel health advice prior to their trip, saying, "Accidents and illness can happen to anyone", but that travellers should themselves the best chance of having a safe and healthy holiday, and visit their GP at least six weeks before they depart to discuss your travel health requirements.

Medical risks include: -

Involuntary exposure to hepatitis
Injections into the skin for medical reasons
Equipment containing blood-borne viruses (e.g. needles, surgical tools)
Intravenous therapy
Blood transfusions
Dental procedures

Other risks directly within the control of the traveller and to be avoided include:-

Voluntary exposure to hepatitis
Unprotected sexual activity
Recreational drug use
Acupuncture
Skin perforating cosmetic procedures (e.g. tattooing and body piercing)
Attending a bleeding person
Sharing personal grooming items (e.g. razors and toothbrushes)

Some self help health tactics.

Although bedbugs pose no real threat to human health, tourists prefer never meeting any. It does not necessarily mean a hotel in Africa, but can be in Paris and New York. In fact N.Y. had a recognized problem in this area through 2011!

Restoration Industry Association, a non-profit (U.S.) trade association that promotes best practices in the cleaning and restoration industry, says although bedbugs are about the size of an apple seed and visible to the naked eye, their flat, rusty-red oval bodies can travel through walls via cracks and crevices.
They often hide behind headboards, in the seams and tufts of mattresses, inside box springs, along baseboards, in and around nightstands and inside pictures, moldings and loose wallpaper, as well as furniture, Restoration officials say.

They can attach themselves to anything and can easily make their way back into a tourists home. To prevent taking bedbugs home, Restoration officials advise that if you feel suspicious, or just want to be sure:
-- Before traveling, pack clothes in large Ziploc bags.
-- At a hotel, check the piping along the mattress and frame around the bed, look for empty body shells under the bed and between the mattress and box spring.
-- Check the closet for evidence of bedbugs before using.
-- Leave clothes in a suitcase on a luggage rack.
-- Place shoes out in the open instead of under the bed.
-- At home, immediately unpack in a laundry room or garage, wash clothes and inspect the suitcases.
-- If bedbugs are discovered once home: washable items should be laundered using the hottest temperature for washing and drying. Suitcases, purses and unwashable items can be placed in a plastic bag and left in the sun for a day.

* The Travel Centre and its associates are not a medical centre or trained medically. We offer these links as a guide only. By displaying these establishments we do not offer any recommendation for any particular service. We just recommend that you get as much information as possible, make an appointment at your nearest practice, and get the relevant medications and inoculations. Advance preparation means safer traveling.