Abstract
In travel medicine efforts should be concentrated on preventive measures that are necessary, and travellers should be spared the side effects, costs and stress of superfluous measures. Excess mortality abroad is mainly due to traffic and swimming accidents, indicating the need for appropriate control strategies. The morbidity in travellers to developing countries is high, and is primarily due to traveller's diarrhoea. As prophylaxis is ineffective or unrealistic, and as travellers often need fast relief, it is recommended to include loperamide and an antimicrobial agent in the travel kit. Recent studies have shown that the incidence rate per month of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Africa may reach