What diseases must be prevented when traveling abroad?

Diseases susceptible to overseas travel include respiratory diseases, digestive tract diseases, insect vectors, animal vectors, water-borne diseases and sexually transmitted diseases.

The websites of entry-exit inspection and quarantine bureaus in many provinces will have epidemic information to broadcast the global epidemic situation of infectious diseases for your reference. In addition, friends with good English can also go to the website of CDC in the United States, which has a whole topic about "traveler's health". After tourists can choose the countries, regions and types of tourism they will visit, the website will give customized health advice with pictures and texts.

If you get sick while traveling abroad, you should seek medical advice in time except those with simple and mild symptoms. For example, if you have a fever or a simple short-term low-grade fever, you can take antipyretic and analgesic drugs such as aspirin before seeing a doctor. Repeated, long-term and high fever accompanied by other symptoms (disturbance of consciousness, dyspnea, etc.). You should see a doctor at once. In addition, it is best to buy a travel insurance before going abroad, which can avoid a lot of trouble.

Verifier: Hu Yuandong | Doctor of Medicine

With the improvement of income level and the simplification of procedures for going abroad, more and more compatriots travel and work abroad, and news of various infectious diseases abroad is also screened out from time to time. Eleventh is also a peak season for outbound travel. What preparations should be made to prevent diseases before traveling abroad? What should I do if there are various acute symptoms abroad? Let's talk about it today

1. What are the diseases that are easy to get when traveling abroad?

The "Traveler's Health" column on the website of the National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists about 40 diseases that are easy to catch during travel. The former is hepatitis A and Japanese encephalitis, while the latter is dengue fever and African trypanosomiasis. Considering that non-professional readers do not need or have relevant medical knowledge, there is no need to explain in depth how to differentiate and diagnose different diseases. For everyone, what is important is how to prevent diseases according to their causes:

1. Preventable degree of diseases transmitted through respiratory tract ★★★☆: including SARS, avian influenza, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) which made people panic the year before last. The best way is to avoid going to areas where these diseases are prevalent. If you have been there, you will know that respiratory diseases are prevalent in this area. The most important measure is to avoid going to stations, hospitals and other places where people are concentrated, so as to reduce the possibility of being infected by others. If you have to go to a crowded place, wear a protective mask above N95. The hole of ordinary mask is too big to protect you basically.

2, spread diseases through the digestive tract, the degree of prevention ★★★★★: including salmonella enteritis, cholera, these are diseases from the mouth. Preventive measures are one of them. Don't be greedy. Without a local stomach, you have to cook it well, even in sushi and salads you eat at home. Don't try strange eating methods such as raw food, and don't eat special foods such as roasted bats and soy sauce bugs.

"Traveler's diarrhea" is also one of the consequences of greedy mouth. It is common on the way to travel abroad, and the symptoms of diarrhea are generally not serious. It will heal itself in 3-4 days. When traveling in underdeveloped countries, eating newly cooked food and drinking only bottled water can prevent travelers' diarrhea to some extent.

Figure 1. Safe food (left) and unsafe food (right). The image is from the website of the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

3. Preventability of insect, animal and water-borne diseases: including malaria, dengue fever, schistosomiasis and Zika virus. It is difficult to avoid contact with the infected environment of the above diseases when traveling. It is impossible to walk in the tightly wrapped forests and grasslands. It is impossible to go to the seaside and the lake without playing with water. For your own health, you should try to use mosquito repellent, mosquito incense and mosquito net.

4, sexually transmitted diseases: prevention degree ★★★★★ ★: including AIDS, gonorrhea and so on. This part depends on leading an honest and clean life.