Travel Health Tips – Avoid Becoming Sick While Vacationing
Travel is the moving movement of humans between different, often remote geographical locations. Travel can sometimes be done by car, bike, foot, plane, train, bus, boat, horseback or other ways, with luggage or no luggage, and may be one way or circular route. It may involve visiting a city, state, country or other location, or span a long distance. There are different types of travel: commercial travel, leisure travel, adventure travel, touring travel, and sports travel.
Commercial travel involves the bringing of passengers from one place to another for business reasons. This type of travel may take several days or weeks. An example of commercial travel is flying to Toronto in a plane, going through customs and landing in Toronto. The most important aspect of commercial travel is making the flight and making it on time. In other words, taking essential travel security measures while on board.
Pleasure travel, as the name suggests, is for fun purposes only. Activities included in this category include sightseeing, swimming, sailing, boating, and cycling. With regard to this type of travel, safety and security are very important. Taking safety and security measures like wearing a self-quarantine suit, avoiding places known to carry contagious diseases, following sanitary procedures when toileting and swimming are essential.
Adventure travel includes activities that have an element of risk and involve some degree of risk, though not necessarily increased risk. Adventure travel brings individuals to remote or dangerous locations where there is an increased risk of communicable diseases, such as swine flu in West Africa in 2021. Travelers who test negative for the disease should be quarantined and treated. Those who test positive should be treated promptly.
Sports travel can bring an increased risk of getting sick, especially if the sporting event is a World Cup or an Olympic sport. People who participate in sports or get involved in the events should be up to date with vaccination shots and should stay home if they contract the disease. Travelers can get tested for syphilis, hepatitis B, mumps, rabies, and toxoplasmosis within ten days of travel, but those who get contaminated before traveling should be tested immediately. Travelers can also contract hepatitis C and HIV.
Travelers can contact their travel physician for additional information about travel restrictions, quarantine, and other precautions. These physicians can provide details about medical travel restrictions, which vary by destination. There are different classifications of travel restrictions, including one that prohibits travelers from traveling to certain countries. Travelers should familiarize themselves with the medical travel restrictions for the country or area in which they are traveling to reduce the risk of contracting a particular disease. They should also be aware of additional screening requirements for specific diseases. Health care providers can provide additional information.