Infectious diseases and the returning traveller - Experience from a regional infectious diseases unit over 20 years

Abstract

The report from the Chief Medical Officer - Getting Ahead of the Curve (a strategy for combating infectious diseases) included the statement 'Infectious diseases recognize no international boundaries, so that a newly emergent disease in another part of the world must be assessed for a potential threat to this country'. About 50 million journeys abroad are made from the UK every year. Inevitably this brings many into contact with illness they would not otherwise impact. Over the last 20 years there has been a corresponding increase in the number of admissions to the Regional Infectious Diseases Unit in Sheffield that has risen from about 50 in 1985 to over 200 in 2000. Admissions reach their peak in the months of June, July, August and September. This review provides an overview of the infections seen in returning travellers in Sheffield over a 20-year period, including information on the countries where infection has been acquired and comments upon the measures which may be taken to minimize the risk of infection while travelling.