Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks

BACKGROUND: Travellers are potential vectors in the transmission of infectious diseases across international borders. Travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) have a particularly high risk of acquiring certain infections during travel. Chinese VFR travellers account for a substantial proporti...

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Autores principales: Ma, Tara, Heywood, Anita, MacIntyre, C. Raina
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier Ltd. 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7110956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26026478
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.05.004
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author Ma, Tara
Heywood, Anita
MacIntyre, C. Raina
author_facet Ma, Tara
Heywood, Anita
MacIntyre, C. Raina
author_sort Ma, Tara
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Travellers are potential vectors in the transmission of infectious diseases across international borders. Travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) have a particularly high risk of acquiring certain infections during travel. Chinese VFR travellers account for a substantial proportion of all travel in Western countries with high migrant populations. METHODS: A literature review was undertaken regarding major infectious disease risks for VFR travellers visiting China. This included an examination of the previous pandemics arising in China, the likelihood of future outbreaks in China from H5N1 and H7N9 avian influenza viruses, the potential role of travellers in disease transmission, and the special risks for VFR travellers. RESULTS: China has been the origin of several influenza pandemics in past few decades, and the origin of several emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential, including SARS. Travel to and from China has the potential for global spread of emergent infectious diseases, as seen in the SARS outbreak in 2003. For VFR travellers, the risk of other infectious diseases may also be greater in China compared to their countries of migration, including hepatitis A and B, dengue fever, typhoid, and other diseases. CONCLUSIONS: VFR travel to China may be associated with increased risk of acquiring a range of infectious diseases, and also poses a potential risk for importation of future pandemics to other countries. Chinese VFR travellers need to be cognisant of these risks and health professionals should consider educational interventions to minimise these risks.
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spelling pubmed-71109562020-04-02 Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks Ma, Tara Heywood, Anita MacIntyre, C. Raina Travel Med Infect Dis Article BACKGROUND: Travellers are potential vectors in the transmission of infectious diseases across international borders. Travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) have a particularly high risk of acquiring certain infections during travel. Chinese VFR travellers account for a substantial proportion of all travel in Western countries with high migrant populations. METHODS: A literature review was undertaken regarding major infectious disease risks for VFR travellers visiting China. This included an examination of the previous pandemics arising in China, the likelihood of future outbreaks in China from H5N1 and H7N9 avian influenza viruses, the potential role of travellers in disease transmission, and the special risks for VFR travellers. RESULTS: China has been the origin of several influenza pandemics in past few decades, and the origin of several emerging infectious diseases with pandemic potential, including SARS. Travel to and from China has the potential for global spread of emergent infectious diseases, as seen in the SARS outbreak in 2003. For VFR travellers, the risk of other infectious diseases may also be greater in China compared to their countries of migration, including hepatitis A and B, dengue fever, typhoid, and other diseases. CONCLUSIONS: VFR travel to China may be associated with increased risk of acquiring a range of infectious diseases, and also poses a potential risk for importation of future pandemics to other countries. Chinese VFR travellers need to be cognisant of these risks and health professionals should consider educational interventions to minimise these risks. Elsevier Ltd. 2015 2015-05-14 /pmc/articles/PMC7110956/ /pubmed/26026478 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.05.004 Text en Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.
spellingShingle Article
Ma, Tara
Heywood, Anita
MacIntyre, C. Raina
Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title_full Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title_fullStr Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title_full_unstemmed Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title_short Chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – A review of infectious risks
title_sort chinese travellers visiting friends and relatives – a review of infectious risks
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7110956/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26026478
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2015.05.004
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