General advice for the international traveler

Medical concerns of the traveling patient may be organized into pre-travel medical advice and preparation, maintenance of health and behavioral modification during travel, and post-travel diagnosis and treatment for travelers returning with illness or a significant change in their general health. Pre-travel medical advice and preparation may be done in large part by well-informed primary-care providers, although patients with special health conditions or unusually complicated or high-risk itineraries may be best referred to a travel medicine specialist. Although diagnosis and treatment of exotic and tropical diseases usually falls within the area of expertise of the infectious diseases specialist, primary physicians should be familiar with the geographic distribution and presentation of the more common of these diseases, so that appropriate referrals will be made.