Got the Travel Bug? A Review of Common Infections, Infestations, Bites, and Stings Among Returning Travelers.

Abstract

The popularity of international travel continues to increase among Americans, even though they often experience subsequent illness on return from their journey. The pathogens responsible are not necessarily endemic to the destination itself but are often the result of poor sanitary conditions or activities engaged in while away. Skin disease ranks third among all medical concerns in returning travelers. This review addresses the pathogenesis, epidemiology, clinical presentation, and treatment of the most common skin diseases in returning travelers: insect bites and bedbugs, cutaneous larva migrans, scabies, tungiasis, myiasis, leishmaniasis, viral exanthems, and marine envenomation. Primary care physicians and dermatologists should be familiar with these illnesses and a general approach to their evaluation and management.