Introduction: Immigrants to the United States who return home to visit friends and relatives (VFRs) have high rates of travel-related infections. The data on VFR utilization of pre-travel health care is inadequate. The objective of this study was to describe the travel patterns and adherence to pre-travel recommendations of VFRs.Methods: This retrospectiv...

This paper examines the grid of sentiment that structures medical travel to India. In contrast to studies that render emotion as ancillary, the paper argues that affect is fundamental to medical travel's ability to ease the linked somatic, emotional, financial, and political injuries of being ill 'back home'. The ethnographic approach follows the scenes of medical travel within the Indian corpo...

familiar with the various emergencies which may arise when medical aid is not forthcoming, and to treat them to the best advantage. Well does the editor preface the contents of the volume with the remark that "Too often foreign travel, instead of restoring health, is the means of sowing the seeds of disease in those previously strong and healthy, when a couple of days' rest or a few simple prec...

The delivery of even the simplest form of health care has three prerequisites: a population to whom the health care can be delivered, a knowledge of the type of care to deliver, and a means of delivery. In a developing country the "who," "what," and "how" are closely related. Health can no longer be conveniently defined as the mere absense of disease. Just as important as the physical state of ...

Interest in tropical medicine began several hundred years ago, when Europeans, primarily, traveled to Africa, Asia, and Latin America in search of land, adventure, and riches. They often returned from their travels with tropical diseases. The diagnosis and treatment of these diseases became an important part of medicine in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Eventually, interest expanded from treat...

In contrast with medical tourism, which broadly describes the movement of individuals for nonurgent and unnecessary treatments or recreational and leisure purposes such as cosmetic surgeries or spa visits (1), medical travel explicitly refers to patients crossing national borders with the purpose of receiving treatment that has been determined as essential to maintaining quality of life by a he...

Physicians who travel may be asked to render care to a passenger who is having a medical emergency during a commercial flight. A considerable proportion of passengers in whom medical issues develop during travel require hospitalization. Therefore, health care providers should understand which in-flight medical emergencies occur commonly as well as the roles the providers can play and the liabil...

BACKGROUND To date there is little sound knowledge on the relationship between travel and health status as perceived by the traveller. Our aim was to investigate the frequency and risk factors of travel-associated illnesses and injuries and identify potential protective factors. METHODS All adults enrolled in a health insurance scheme who planned to travel in 2002 were eligible for participat...

As the population increases, older people have the opportunity to travel for longer periods and to destinations that are quite different from what they are used to. Older people do indeed have more ongoing medical issues and some limitations due to the aging process. Most of the time these chronic conditions are not a contraindication to travel. Preparing for travel frequently involves starting...

“Travel broadens the mind” and people have been extolling the merits of travel for a very long time .The general belief is that travel is good for travelers’ mentally and physically. But while travel can indeed be interesting and exciting, and good for mental and physical wellbeing, all too often it can be harmful to a traveler's health (1) .The increase in numbers of travellers and the speed a...