[Tourism and risk of infection (author's transl)]

Great streams of tourists flow every year from the Federal Republic to southern countries. The danger of infection with serious tropical diseases such as smallpox, cholera or leprosy is fairly small, statistically speaking. Even exotic parasitoses merit only individual medical interest in the majority of cases. Of greater importance are the cosmopolitan infectious diseases such as typhoid fever, paratyphoid, salmonella enteritis, poliomyelitis, viral hepatitides which are transmitted orally and altogether are imported in no small numbers. The alteration of the mode of living caused by the holiday and frequently a false confidence in the hygienic conditions favor the infection. Almost independent of the behavior of the tourists are the infections produced by insect bites, such as malaria or the leishmaniases, which often end fatally for lack of recognition. Here, a better enlightment of the travelers, the use of prophylactic agents and improvement of diagnosis must be instituted.