Planning to Travel Internationally This Summer?
Get
the Information You Need Before You Leave
Everything is set for your vacation overseas — airline
tickets, hotel accommodations and a schedule
full of activities. But do you have a plan if
you become sick or injured? What kind of medicine
or hospital care will be available to you? If
you get sick or injured while you’re outside
the United States, will your health insurance
cover your care? Are there vaccines recommended
to avoid illnesses in your host country? Planning
for your health care needs is an important element
of your travel plans and ensuring a safe, healthy
trip.
Be Prepared
When traveling overseas it is important to know the health risks you may encounter
and take the necessary precautions to protect yourself. In addition, you
should develop a plan in case you become sick or injured while traveling.
Destinations where accommodation, hygiene and
sanitation, medical care and water quality are
of a high standard pose relatively few serious
risks for the health of travelers who have no
pre-existing illness. In contrast, destinations
where accommodation is of poor quality, hygiene
and sanitation are inadequate, medical services
do not exist, and clean water is unavailable
may pose serious risks for the health of all
travelers. In these settings, strict precautions
must be taken to avoid illness.
Vaccinations are effective in preventing certain
infectious diseases and they offer protection
against a number of dangerous infections that
may be encountered abroad. Vaccines are generally
very safe and adverse reactions are uncommon.
Remember that vaccines do not protect against
all diseases. Vaccines have not yet been developed
to help prevent the spread of some of the most
life-threatening infections, including malaria
and HIV/AIDS.
In developing your travel-health plan, ask yourself
these questions:
- Why should I get vaccines or other medications?
My destination has no REQUIREMENTS.
Country-entry requirements are imposed by the country for the safety of the
citizens of that country. This is not the same as your actual disease risks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) make recommendations
to help reduce your risk of illness. These can be reviewed on the CDC website: www.cdc.gov and
check under ‘Traveler’s Health’. A Penn Travel Medicine
specialist can help determine what immunizations are best for you.
- Am I traveling to a tropical destination?
Most tropical destinations, including the Caribbean, have serious mosquito-borne
diseases, such as dengue fever, malaria, Japanese Encephalitis or yellow
fever. The CDC recommends using insect repellent with permethrin for your
clothing, and a DEET lotion up to 35 percent on your exposed skin. Vaccines
are available for yellow fever and Japanese Encephalitis. Antimalarial
medications are available by prescription.
- Will my health insurance cover me while
I am out of the country?
Most health insurance policies will not cover you outside of the United States.
Of those that do, some require that you see a network provider, who could
be 100 miles away or more. Others may require that you find your own provider,
pay the bill, and later submit for reimbursement. Ascertaining the credentials
and safety of the medical provider is challenging at best. Serious emergencies
may require medical evacuation back to the United States. The cost for evacuation
could be $25,000 or more. Most evacuation companies require payment prior
to services. Consider purchasing a medical and evacuation policy. A
comprehensive policy will have western-trained, English-speaking medical
providers available to you by telephone, 24 hours a day, seven days per week
A good policy will locate medical providers, up to the standards of the World
Health Organization, and arrange for transportation or evacuation, if needed.
A Penn Travel Medicine specialist can advise on your insurance issues.
- Is the bottled water safe for drinking?
When traveling to an area where the local water is not safe to drink, make
certain that your bottled water is purchased from a reliable source. It
is commonplace for street vendors to refill water bottles from the tap.
Reliable sources would include your hotel or a reputable grocer.
- What if I wear glasses or contact lenses?
Pack an extra set. Replacing glasses or contact lenses outside of the country
would be difficult, if not impossible.
- What should I do if I am taking a cruise?
Consider getting a flu vaccine. There have been a number of recent influenza
outbreaks on cruise ships. Some ships have experienced as many as 1000
cases at one time, with a few cases resulting in death.
- What is the contact information for organizations
that assist abroad?
For emergencies, such as a lost passport, it is important to know where to
go for help. This information can be obtained by contacting that country’s
embassy here in the United States. Visit www.embassy.org and
click on your destination country to find out more.
Before You Leave: When to See a Travel Health
Specialist
The optimal time to visit a travel health specialist is at least six to eight
weeks before you plan to travel. If you leave in less than six weeks, you should
still see a travel health specialist. Many preventive therapies are effective
in shorter time intervals.
To schedule an appointment with a Penn
Travel Medicine specialist, call 1-800-789-PENN
(7366).
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