Consulta del viajero (I): Consulta antes del viaje

Abstract

The enlargement of international travels has increased not only the risk of suffering cosmopolitan diseases (tuberculosis, hepatitis, sexual transmission diseases, and so on), but also of suffering other unknown diseases that are less frequent and only appear in tropical areas of the earth. Before starting a travel to a tropical country, it is necessary for the traveler to make a plan, with enough time, and to consult information of the place that he wants to visit (travel agency, a country guide, the opinion of a friend who had visited the place before and so on). Finally it is very important to consult the family physician. The international travelers should consult the physician or the foreign health care departments, at least six weeks before the travel, in order to obtain information about the sanitary conditions of the country that it is going to be visited and in this way, to receive the vaccines or prophylaxis that was indicated in each case. Most of the tropical diseases acquired in these countries are easily avoidable. The most important health risk of this kind of travels is the lack of information. The main purpose of this article is to offer simple hints to the family physicians to treat the travelers consult in a Primary Health Care center. It is also important for the traveler to consult other specific centers that could inform him about tropical medicines. We think that it is necessary, in order to develop the contents in a easy and practical way, to divide the article in three parts, published consecutively: Traveler's consultation (I): Before the travel; Traveler's consultation (II): vaccines and prophylaxis; Traveler's consultation (III): after the travel.