Archive for December, 2010

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Ignorance Abroad: New Study Reveals Many Travelers Are Unprepared for Health Risks

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010 by

We don’t need more motivation to keep blogging in 2011, but we got a jolt when we came across a recent survey of international travelers published in The Journal of Travel Medicine (Volume 17, Issue 6, pages 387-391, November/December 2010). Researchers surveyed over 1,200 international airline passengers in Boston’s Logan Airport to gauge their “Pre-travel Health Advice Behavior”. The results speak volumes about our mission here at HTB.
The study limited the survey to those traveling to low or low-middle income countries, a/k/a the developing world, where dangerous infectious diseases abound. Participants cited vacation, visiting friends and family, business and education as their primary reasons for traveling. The major findings underscore why we take our blogging seriously:

  • Overall, 44% reported not seeking any health advice prior to traveling. Researchers cite this statistic as consistent with a similar survey of passengers at Kennedy airport in which 64% did not seek any pre-travel advice
  • 21% reported verifying that their immunizations were up-to-date
  • 36% carried a prescription medication for traveler’s diarrhea
  • Of those traveling to countries where malaria is endemic, a scant 20% reported carrying a prescription anti-malarial drug
  • The unprepared group is skewed toward passengers who are foreign-born, visiting friends or family, traveling for less than 14 days or vacationing

These findings dovetail with anecdotal evidence we amass at HTH Worldwide, where we’ve encountered entire study abroad groups who disembark in Africa before realizing that malaria is an endemic risk.
Those who did seek advice favored the Internet, their primary care physician or a travel medicine specialist. There was far less reliance on the travel guides, travel agents, employers or even the Centers for Disease Control.
From a public health perspective, the survey results suggest that travelers’ high degree of indifference to the risks help fuel the diffusion of infectious agents around the world. From our travel health viewpoint, it’s clear travelers are running unnecessary risks and likely paying the price on a regular basis. Perhaps we should all make a New Year’s resolution to alert friends and family to do their homework before they board a flight to a risky destination.

Photo by tropical.pete

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Posted in Traveling Responsibly | Comments »

2011 Travel Green Guide: Make Your Travels Eco-Friendly

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 by

The International Ecotourism Society (TIES) has published its 2010-2011 Travel Green Guide, a lengthy listing of eco-tour companies and lodge owners in all corners of the world. There are more than 200 entries to explore if your New Year’s resolutions include visiting venues that connect you with healthy environments. It’s free, and it also includes directories for eco-tourism professionals, associations, not-for-profit organizations, colleges and universities as well as other institutions actively engaged in promoting sustainable tourism. The TIES web site — www.yourtravelchoice.org – has lots of other interesting resources, if you’re so inclined. I joined TIES a few months ago (that’s free, too), and they keep their email contacts to a bare but useful minimum.

Photo by konosur.

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Posted in Destinations, Traveling Responsibly | Comments »

Recent Travel Newslinks

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010 by

Most of our links this week focus on getting you to and from your destination safely.  However, if your New Year’s resolution involves traveling to an unlikely destination, check out the last link.

Four Ways to avoid getting sick during the holiday season -  Find out why we get sick around the holidays and how to avoid it. 

6 places germs breed in a plane – How to avoid picking up nasty bacteria.

Drive safely: Avoid joining ranks of stranded – Tips for driving in snow and ice.

Is Traveling in Northern Iraq Safe? – Business travelers find Kurdish cities markedly improved.

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Consider a Humanitarian Gift This Season: Give Hope to Those Who Need It Most

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 by

HTB’s readers are one of the most globally connected groups we know. These connections produce knowledge of the disparity in health, education and life expectancy that prevail around the world, and with that knowledge comes responsibility. While we aren’t trying to guilt you into trading your comfortable job for subsistence farming, we’d like to suggest making at least a modest gift to any number of very worthy organizations around the world that channel charitable giving directly and effectively to those who need it most. You can start by checking out Nick Kristof’s recent column in the NY Times. Mr. Kristof is making a career of identifying innovative yet simple models for helping each other. He highlights organizations delivering hope in the form of medical care, literacy, education and dignity for women and children in Afghanistan, Haiti, Congo, Somalia and Cambodia. Take the time to learn more. We’re sure you will be moved to give.

Photo by Darren Tunnicliff.

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Posted in Global Medicine | Comments »

Traveling with A Medical Condition? Help the TSA Be Discreet

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010 by

The Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has taken a step to improve the screening experience for travelers with medical conditions.  Following complaints from travelers who encountered embarassing or uncomfortable situations during security screenings, the TSA has issued health condition notification cards that travelers can fill out and discreetly hand to a TSA officer before going through the screening device.  The card, which does not exempt the traveler from screening,  states “I have the following health condition, disability, or medical device that may affect my screening:” followed by a blank area where travelers can fill in the name of their condition or choose to leave it blank. 

The back of the card reads “TSA respects the privacy concerns of all members of the traveling public.  This card allows you to describe your health condition, disability or medical device to the TSA officer in a discreet manner.  Alternate procedures which provide an equivalent level of security screening are available and can be done in private.”  The cards were distributed in October on a very limited basis but are now widely available. Visit the TSA website under “Travelers with Disabilities & Medical Conditions.” 

Kate Hanni of FlyersRights.org reports that the airline consumer organization receives complaints daily from people with disabilities who feel “completely disregarded and/or violated during their security check.”  These cards are a step in the right direction in making the security process as easy and private as possible, and the TSA is looking to make even more improvements in the future.

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London – New Infectious Disease Hot Spot?

Monday, December 20th, 2010 by

The esteemed British medical journal, the Lancet, reported this week that the incidence of tuberculosis in London had risen 50% in the last decade.  Unlike neighboring countries, and the rest of the Western world, where tuberculosis has been on the decline for dozens of years, London saw a jump from 2,309 cases in 1999 to 3,450 in 2009. Most tuberculosis cases in Great Britain appear in people born overseas, although not in recent arrivals. About 85 percent of people with tuberculosis have been in Britain for at least two years, meaning the disease is not being imported, but circulating locally.

In separate reports, the H1N1 virus, or the so called “swine flu” also saw a big jump in the number of London cases over the past month.  The Health Protection Agency released a report that London had experienced 10 deaths from the swine flu in the last six weeks. In addition, dozens of patients have been admitted to intensive care units in hospitals throughout London with severe respiratory problems related to infection with the H1N1 virus.  Professor John Watson, the HPA’s head of respiratory disease, said he was “surprised” at the rapid spread of the virus, adding “It is more than I would have expected.”

Britain is one of the world’s biggest foreign aid donors, with considerable investments in projects fighting tuberculosis and swine flu in poor countries.  “We need to clean up our own back garden first,” says Alimuddin Zumla of University College, calling for new strategies and more money to reverse the recent London jump. “Charity begins at home,” he added.

Should tourists avoid London?  Most public health officials would say “no”, citing the fact that the number of cases thus far is not impressive, despite their shock value. Nonetheless, travelers to developed countries should not abandon the universal precautions, such as frequent hand washing, avoiding large crowds and covering one’s mouth when coughing, that are observed with more vigilance in areas endemic for exotic infectious diseases.

Photo by emiana.

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Posted in Destinations, H1N1 (Swine) Flu | Comments »

Recent Travel Newslinks

Friday, December 17th, 2010 by

If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably interested in healthy travel or maybe just travel. Here are some of the more interesting articles on these subjects that we found in this weeks’ news. Do you have any you’d like to share?

  1. Do We Travel to Get There or Get There to Travel? There can be joy in the trip as well as the final destination.
  2. An American iPhone in Paris  iPhone coverage in Paris is great, holding calls even on the subway. 
  3. Travel Improvement Ideas – win €20,000  Submit your idea for implementing technology to improve travel for a chance to win €20,000.
  4. New Debit Card Works Overseas Travelex has created a prepaid debit card for travelers heading to countries where the “chip and PIN” technology is used.
  5. Outfitting Your Family’s Traveler for Stellar Photography Make sure you leave for your trip with the right camera.
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FAA Urges Parents to Buckle Up Babies

Friday, December 17th, 2010 by

The Child Passenger Safety in the Air and in Automobiles forum was held last week in Washington.  Here members of the NTSB, the FAA and the Association of Flight Attendants all agreed that a young child is safer when buckled into a safety restraint on an airplane than when just held in a parent’s lap.  Despite this consensus, the FAA has never required parents to purchase a separate airplane seat for a child under two, and it has no plans to change this policy.  The reasoning seems to be that such a requirement would discourage air travel for families with children under two and put more cars on the road, where the likelihood of harm is statistically far greater. 

Many flight attendants have stressed the difficulty of being able to safely hold onto a child during turbulence or a crash.  In a plane crash, a 20-pound baby can fly with the force of a 100-pound missile, putting other passengers in danger.  The Child Safety on Airplanes document on the FAA website states that an approved child restraint system (CRS) is the safest place for a baby on an airplane, and offers these guidelines:

  • Children weighing less than 20 pounds use a rear-facing CRS
  • Children weighing from 20 to 40 pounds use a forward-facing CRS
  • Children weighing more than 40 pounds use an airplane seat belt

The FAA suggests that parents ask the airline about a discount when booking an extra seat for their baby.  They also recommend that if the parent decides to hold the child, they should check with a flight attendant after boarding to see if there is an empty seat that could be used to secure the child.

Photo by Up Your Ego.

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Posted in Traveling with Children | Comments »

Use Your Head on the Slopes: Wear a helmet

Friday, December 17th, 2010 by

Head injuries on the ski slopes have decreased due to increased use of helmets and improved equipment, and the sport could be made even safer if everyone used the equipment properly.  In the 2009-10 season, a total of 25 skiers and 13 snowboarders died in a span of 59.8 million skier/snowboarder days, making the sport relatively safe—after all, 46 Americans died last year after being struck by lightning.  Skiing has about 2 injuries per 1,000 skier visits, says Jasper Shealy, a professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology who has studied skiing and snowboarding injuries for 40 years.  Snowboarding has a 50-70% higher injury rate than skiing, but the death rate is about one-third lower.   

Thanks to the growing popularity of helmets on the slopes, head injuries have declined by 50% in the past ten years.  More than half of all skiers and snowboarders in the US wear helmets.  Unfortunately, the average number of people who die on America’s slopes each year has held steady at around 40, and the nature of the fatal crashes—high speed encounters with fixed objects, usually trees–have led researchers to believe that it is unlikely that deaths can be eliminated from the sport.  

According to Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association, the key to avoiding injury on the slopes is to follow these guidelines:

  • Wear a helmet
  • Ski or ride in control
  • Be able to avoid objects and other skiers/snowboarders
  • Never test the effectiveness of the helmet

Responsible skier and snowboarder behavior is crucial for staying safe.  When jumping on the lift this winter, remember to follow what Berry calls the “responsibility code”:   Be sure to stop in safe places, look uphill and yield before going downhill or merging onto a trail, stay off closed trails and know how to use lifts. Oh, and ski under control.

Photo by kandyjaxx.

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Healthy Preparation Goes a Long Way to Protect Students Abroad

Wednesday, December 15th, 2010 by

Are you preparing for a study abroad program? Do you know someone who is? HTH Worldwide, a global health and safety services company, recently released on YouTube an educational video series called Health and Safety Abroad.  Dr. Frank Gillingham, medical director for HTH Worldwide, created this video series to help study abroad participants prepare for their experience. These video vignettes, cover how to avoid or manage serious health and safety issues that confront students abroad:  Alcohol, Prescription Drugs, Illegal Drugs, Mental Illness, Chronic Illness, STDs, Jet Lag, Traveler’s Diarrhea, Sun Exposure, Malaria, Motion Sickness, Water Hazards, Altitude Sickness and Security.

Dr. Gillingham presents the material personally in an entertaining and engaging manner because he knows that, “many students will be interested in making sure their study abroad experience is as memorable as possible.  It is my hope that they will pay attention to this information because a little knowledge and preparation will enable students to enjoy a positive and rewarding experience.”

Many universities have already started including these videos in their pre-departure training programs and are recognizing their value.  David Larsen, formerly Executive Director of Arcadia University’s Center for Education Abroad notes, “This video series is terrific!  It covers many important topics with unbiased, factual information delivered in a manner that today’s students should welcome.  It’s an important contribution to education abroad.  Thanks to Dr. Gillingham and to HTH for preparing these pieces and making them broadly available.”

You can find the series, broken down by segment, on HTH Worldwide’s YouTube channel.  Share them with anyone you know preparing for a study abroad experience – a little preparation goes a long way.

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Posted in Jet Lag, Travel Tips | Comments »

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