Increasing international travel has bumped up the need for quality health information, preventive medications and vaccinations before safe and healthy travel overseas. On the return, adventure travelers sometimes come back with more than souvenirs though, looking for a cure in the fields of tropical medicine, infectious diseases and more. Increasing in number and popularity are international travel clinics that offer a personal, customized and preventative measure of safety.
“Everyone is traveling for different reasons, and international travel is really popular. Probably post 9/11, it’s the biggest it’s ever been,” Dr. Christopher Ohl from the Baptist Health International Travel Clinic said in a Winston-Salem Journal report.
More than just giving immunizations, doctors and nurses examine each patient’s itinerary to provide tailored advice. They research each destination using online sources like any international traveler might, then go beyond what the websites might offer.
Based on their itinerary, Baptist Health International Travel Clinic in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, provides travelers with the necessary vaccines, as well as advice on how to stay healthy and what to do if they get sick.
“A good travel medicine specialist will look at the itinerary of a person and look at the provinces and cities people are going to,” Ohl said. “We fine-tune the needs of a traveler so they can stay healthy.”Another source, the International Society of Travel Medicine, has a helpful Global Travel Clinic Locator that can find a travel clinic offering similar services. Look for one that includes assistance for tropical medicine and infectious diseases, high altitude medicine, travel-related obstetrics, occupational health, military and migration medicine.
Visiting an international travel clinic 30 days before a trip is recommended.
[Photo – Chris Owen]