Abstract
Travel medicine is a new specialisation which focuses on the prevention, dg. and treatment of illnesses that arise through travel. Up to 60% of all health complications that occur during travel abroad are injuries.
Infectious diseases are the second most common, followed by psychosocial problems. The infectious diseases most commonly imported by the traveller include diarrhoea, malaria (imported from West Africa from travellers who have not taken anti-malarial drugs), acute respiration infectious disease, hepatitis A, dengue fever, hepatitis B and gonorrhoea.
Since more and more individuals wishing to travel abroad are seeking medical advice before their trips, it would be a great advantage if their general practitioner was able to offer these clients expert information in the field. The Faculty of Tropical and Travel Medicine at the Institute for Postgraduate Education in Medicine offers a number of courses on a varity of topics.
However, unfortunately, attendance figures for the courses are currently quite low.