TY - JOUR
T1 - Business travel-associated illness
T2 - A GeoSentinel analysis
AU - For the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network
AU - Chen, Lin H.
AU - Leder, Karin
AU - Barbre, Kira A.
AU - Schlagenhauf, Patricia
AU - Libman, Michael
AU - Keystone, Jay
AU - Mendelson, Marc
AU - Gautret, Philippe
AU - Schwartz, Eli
AU - Shaw, Marc
AU - MacDonald, Sue
AU - McCarthy, Anne
AU - Connor, Bradley A.
AU - Esposito, Douglas H.
AU - Hamer, Davidson
AU - Wilson, Mary E.
AU - von Sonnenburg, Frank
AU - Rothe, Camilla
AU - Kain, Kevin
AU - Boggild, Andrea
AU - Cramer, Jakob
AU - Jordan, Sabine
AU - Vinnemeier, Christof
AU - Yansouni, Cedric
AU - Chappuis, Francois
AU - Caumes, Eric
AU - Perignon, Alice
AU - Torresi, Joe
AU - Kanagawa, Shuzo
AU - Kato, Yasuyuki
AU - Grobusch, Martin
AU - Goorhuis, Bram
AU - Javelle, Emilie
AU - Kozarsky, Phyllis
AU - Wu, Henry
AU - Yoshimura, Yukiriro
AU - Tachikawa, Natsuo
AU - Lim, Poh Lian
AU - Piyaphanee, Watcharapong
AU - Silachamroon, Udomsak
AU - Murphy, Holly
AU - Pandey, Prativa
AU - Ásgeirsson, Hilmir
AU - Glans, Hedvig
AU - Jensenius, Mogens
AU - Borwein, Sarah
AU - Hale, Devon
AU - Leung, Daniel
AU - Benson, Scott
AU - van Genderen, Perry
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© International Society of Travel Medicine, 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2018/2/1
Y1 - 2018/2/1
N2 - Background: Analysis of a large cohort of business travelers will help clinicians focus on frequent and serious illnesses. We aimed to describe travel-related health problems in business travelers. Methods: GeoSentinel Surveillance Network consists of 64 travel and tropical medicine clinics in 29 countries; descriptive analysis was performed on ill business travelers, defined as persons traveling for work, evaluated after international travel 1 January 1997 through 31 December 2014. Results: Among 12 203 business travelers seen 1997-2014 (14 045 eligible diagnoses), the majority (97%) were adults aged 20-64 years; most (74%) reported from Western Europe or North America; two-thirds were male. Most (86%) were outpatients. Fewer than half (45%) reported a pre-travel healthcare encounter. Frequent regions of exposure were sub-Saharan Africa (37%), Southeast Asia (15%) and South Central Asia (14%). The most frequent diagnoses were malaria (9%), acute unspecified diarrhea (8%), viral syndrome (6%), acute bacterial diarrhea (5%) and chronic diarrhea (4%). Species was reported for 973 (90%) of 1079 patients with malaria, predominantly Plasmodium falciparum acquired in sub-Saharan Africa. Of 584 (54%) with malaria chemoprophylaxis information, 92% took none or incomplete courses. Thirteen deaths were reported, over half of which were due to malaria; others succumbed to pneumonia, typhoid fever, rabies, melioidosis and pyogenic abscess. Conclusions: Diarrheal illness was a major cause of morbidity. Malaria contributed substantial morbidity and mortality, particularly among business travelers to sub-Saharan Africa. Underuse or non-use of chemoprophylaxis contributed to malaria cases. Deaths in business travelers could be reduced by improving adherence to malaria chemoprophylaxis and targeted vaccination for vaccine-preventable diseases. Pre-travel advice is indicated for business travelers and is currently under-utilized and needs improvement.
AB - Background: Analysis of a large cohort of business travelers will help clinicians focus on frequent and serious illnesses. We aimed to describe travel-related health problems in business travelers. Methods: GeoSentinel Surveillance Network consists of 64 travel and tropical medicine clinics in 29 countries; descriptive analysis was performed on ill business travelers, defined as persons traveling for work, evaluated after international travel 1 January 1997 through 31 December 2014. Results: Among 12 203 business travelers seen 1997-2014 (14 045 eligible diagnoses), the majority (97%) were adults aged 20-64 years; most (74%) reported from Western Europe or North America; two-thirds were male. Most (86%) were outpatients. Fewer than half (45%) reported a pre-travel healthcare encounter. Frequent regions of exposure were sub-Saharan Africa (37%), Southeast Asia (15%) and South Central Asia (14%). The most frequent diagnoses were malaria (9%), acute unspecified diarrhea (8%), viral syndrome (6%), acute bacterial diarrhea (5%) and chronic diarrhea (4%). Species was reported for 973 (90%) of 1079 patients with malaria, predominantly Plasmodium falciparum acquired in sub-Saharan Africa. Of 584 (54%) with malaria chemoprophylaxis information, 92% took none or incomplete courses. Thirteen deaths were reported, over half of which were due to malaria; others succumbed to pneumonia, typhoid fever, rabies, melioidosis and pyogenic abscess. Conclusions: Diarrheal illness was a major cause of morbidity. Malaria contributed substantial morbidity and mortality, particularly among business travelers to sub-Saharan Africa. Underuse or non-use of chemoprophylaxis contributed to malaria cases. Deaths in business travelers could be reduced by improving adherence to malaria chemoprophylaxis and targeted vaccination for vaccine-preventable diseases. Pre-travel advice is indicated for business travelers and is currently under-utilized and needs improvement.
KW - Business
KW - Death
KW - Diarrhea
KW - Malaria
KW - Occupational medicine
KW - Travel
KW - Vaccine-preventable disease
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042648590&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jtm/tax097
DO - 10.1093/jtm/tax097
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C2 - 29462444
AN - SCOPUS:85042648590
SN - 1195-1982
VL - 25
JO - Journal of Travel Medicine
JF - Journal of Travel Medicine
IS - 1
M1 - tax097
ER -