Acute and Potentially Life-Threatening Tropical Diseases in Western Travelers—A GeoSentinel Multicenter Study, 1996–2011
Year: 2013
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: We performed a descriptive analysis of acute and potentially life-threatening tropical diseases among 82,825 ill western travelers reported to GeoSentinel from June of 1996 to August of 2011. We identified 3,655 patients (4.4%) with a total of 3,666 diagnoses representing 13 diseases, including falciparum malaria (76.9%), enteric fever (18.1%), and leptospirosis (2.4%). Ninety-one percent of the patients had fever; the median time from travel to presentation was 16 days. Thirteen (0.4%) patients died: 10 with falciparum malaria, 2 with melioidosis, and 1 with severe dengue. Falciparum malaria was mainly acquired in West Africa, and enteric fever was largely contracted on the Indian subcontinent; leptospirosis, scrub typhus, and murine typhus were principally acquired in Southeast Asia. Western physicians seeing febrile and recently returned travelers from the tropics need to consider a wide profile of potentially life-threatening tropical illnesses, with a specific focus on the most likely diseases described in our large case series.
Institutions: Oslo University Hospital, University of Oslo, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, University of Zurich, Tel Aviv University, Sheba Medical Center, Hôpital Nord, University of Brescia, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, University Hospital of Geneva, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Monash University, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Language: English
Topic: Travel-related health issues
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: World Health Organization, University of Southern California, Kaiser Permanente, Emory University, Harvard University, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, Tulane University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Ottawa, McGill University, Monash University, Universiteit van Amsterdam, University of Toronto, Mahidol University, Tel Aviv University, Université de Montréal, Universitetet i Oslo, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, Université de Genève, Universität Zürich, University of Cape Town, Università degli Studi di Brescia, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Palo Alto Medical Foundation
OpenAlex ID: W2138870003