A disease to which travelers are susceptible specifically because of their travel. Travel-related diseases are the purview of travel medicine. Travel medicine is not really new but it began to flourish in the 1980’s, due to the growing numbers of people traveling internationally, especially to less developed areas of the world. Destinations once visited only by soldiers, missionaries and explorers became destinations for ordinary travelers from western countries. Along with the increase in this type of travel comes exposure to health risks that, in large part, are new to the western world.
There are scores of travel-related diseases. They include, but are not by any means limited to the following entities listed as travel-related diseases by the National Center for Infectious Diseases of the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Entities marked with an asterisk (*) denote risks due to exposure to unimmunized persons.
African sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis);
AIDS and HIV;
BSE (“mad cow disease”) and nvCJD;
Chagas disease (American trypanosomiasis);
*diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus (DPT);
E. coli (infection with Escherichia coli);
giardiasis (Giardia infection);
head lice (pediculosis);
leishmaniasis (Leishmania infection);
*measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR);
Norovirus infection (Norwalk/Norwalk-like virus infection);
onchocerciasis (river blindness);
salmonellosis (Salmonella infection);
sexually transmitted diseases (STDs);
shigellosis (Shigella infection);
typhus in all its forms;
viral hemorrhagic fevers (eg, Ebola, Lassa, Marburg, Rift Valley);
West Nile fever; and
- Traveler's diarrhea
Diarrhea that results from infections acquired while traveling to another country. Among the causes of traveler’s diarrhea are enterotoxigenic E. coli and a variety of other bacteria and viruses.
- Treacher Collins Syndrome
a genetic condition that results in a disorder of development of the bones and muscles of the face. The condition affects 1 out of about every 50,000 people and is due to a mutation in a gene known as TCOF1. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, meaning that a person who has one […]
A medicinal compound once in wide use as an antidote to poisons. Treacle was a kind of salve. It was reputed to be a remedy against venomous bites in particular and against poisons in general. It also came to be considered a “cure” for cancer. The word “treacle” descends from the Greek “theriakos” (of a […]
A machine with a moving strip on which one walks without moving forward. A treadmill was originally a wide wheel turned by the weight of people climbing on steps around its edge, used in the past to provide power for machines or as a punishment in prisons. The treadmill today serves as a device to […]
- Treadmill test
See exercise cardiac treadmill.