CDC Travelers' Health Update

Bugs, including mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, and some flies, can spread diseases like malaria, yellow fever, Zika, dengue, and Lyme. Several diseases cannot be prevented or treated with a vaccine or medicine.

Reduce your risk of getting these diseases by taking steps to prevent bug bites on your next trip!

Before Your Trip: Check your destination for health risks. Find out which vaccines, medicines, or advice can help you prevent diseases spread by bug bites at your destination.

Diseases spread by mosquitoes infect about 200 million people each year — dengue, malaria, and Zika cause infections in many popular travel destinations. If there is a risk of malaria at your next destination, consult your doctor to assess your risk and choose the most appropriate anti-malarial medicine.

Special considerations for pregnant women: Malaria and Zika can be transmitted to from mother to child during pregnancy. Zika infection during pregnancy can cause severe birth defects. CDC recommends that pregnant women talk to their doctor if traveling to areas with risk of malaria and Zika. Healthcare providers should discuss the risk of Zika with pregnant couples or couples trying to get pregnant who plan to travel to an area with risk of Zika.

During Your Trip: Pack and use EPA-registered insect repellents with one of the following active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), or 2-undecanone while outdoors. Find the right insect repellent for you here.

Application: Apply sunscreen first, and insect repellent second. Reapply as directed on the sunscreen package.To apply insect repellent to your child’s face, spray into onto your hands, then rub it on their face. Do NOT spray it into a face.

Cover Exposed Skin: Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants. Be aware that some bugs, such as tsetse flies, can still bite through thinner fabric.
Avoid Mosquitoes Where You are Staying: If possible, choose hotel rooms or other accommodations that are air-conditioned or have window and door screens with no holes, so bugs can’t get inside. If bugs can get into where you are sleeping, sleep under a permethrin-treated bed net that can be tucked under the mattress.

If you get sick before or up to a year after traveling, seek medical attention.

Check out our new feature → Avoid Bug Bites

April Travel Tip: Zika Update

Know before you go! Zika continues to be a problem in many parts of the world. There is no vaccine to prevent the infection. Zika is spread mostly by the bite of an infected Aedes species mosquito. Zika virus can be passed from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Infection during pregnancy can cause certain birth defects.

Your decision to delay or cancel travel is personal and complex. In making this decision, consider your travel destination and your ability to protect yourself from mosquito bites. CDC recommends that pregnant women and couples planning a pregnancy within the next 3 months consult with a health care provider in making this decision.

Zika map

Clinician Updates

Dengue

Update: Travelers who go to parts of the Caribbean, Central and South America Western Pacific Islands, Australia, Southeast Asia, and Africa, are at risk for contracting dengue. The mosquito that carries the dengue virus can bite during the day and night, both indoors and outdoors, and often lives around buildings in urban areas.

How to Counsel Your Patients: There is currently no vaccine or medicine available in the United States to prevent dengue. Prevention of dengue is critical. If your patient is travelling to a destination where there is risk for dengue they should protect themselves by avoiding mosquito bites through insect repellents or insecticide treated bed nets.

Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine for Travelers 6 Months and Older

How to Counsel Your Patients: A number of countries currently have measles outbreaks, including many popular destinations. Make sure your patients are fully vaccinated or otherwise protected against measles before they travel.

Infants 6-11 months of age traveling internationally should have one dose of measles vaccine.
Infants vaccinated before 12 months of age should be revaccinated on or after the first birthday with two doses, separated by at least 28 days.
Children 12 months of age or older should have two doses, separated by at least 28 days.
Adolescents and adults who have not had measles or have not been vaccinated should get two doses, separated by at least 28 days.
Two doses of MMR vaccine are nearly 100% effective at preventing measles.
See Vaccine Information Statements (VIS) for more information.
Patients should also be advised to wash their hands often, or use hand sanitizer, and avoid contact with people who are sick.

Free Continuing Education Credits

Our Clinician Resource page has our most up-to-date resources for pre-travel care, post-travel clinical evaluation, and continuing education credit. We recently posted two new CE courses. Check these out:

Guidance for Using Intravenous Artesunate for Treating Severe Malaria in the United States

Extensively Drug-resistant Salmonella Typhi Infections Emerge Among Travelers to or from Pakistan

Upcoming: Travel-associated Rickettsioses Guidance: Pre-travel Counseling, Diagnosis, Treatment, and Reporting. Tuesday, May 7^th, 2-3 EST.