GEOSENTINEL and Thai Travel ClinicA Global Watch for the Spread of Infectious Diseases
Since 2006, Thai Travel Clinic of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases has been an active participant in a growing elite network of health care providers chosen to monitor the global spread of infectious diseases. The recognition that travel is a leading player in the spread of diseases such as SARS stimulated the formation of a worldwide network of travel and tropical medicine clinics dedicated to following global patterns of illness. The GeoSentinel network now consists of 54 strategically placed clinics on 6 continents, and since 1995 has been a major initiative of its parent medical society, the International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM). As a GeoSentinel surveillance site, Thai Travel Clinic of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases was chosen for their expertise in the evaluation and management of special groups of patients: returning travelers who are ill, immigrants, refugees and foreign visitors. Linking information regarding illnesses acquired from various geographic locations in certain time periods helps to define trends in the movement of diseases, and could help to identify new agents, or emerging diseases. Using web-conferencing, GeoSentinel sites worldwide share information in real-time and formulate coordinated strategies during times of public health crisis. GeoSentinel also has the capacity to send alerts to its sites, to public health authorities, and to over 2,000 ISTM members in over 58 countries. Another major benefit of the network has been the establishment of worldwide partners in public health. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through a cooperative agreement with the ISTM, has been a major provider of expertise and financial resources for this growing project.
More information visit Geosentinel official website: www.geosentinel.org |
WHO International certificate of vaccinationIf you plan to visit to yellow fever risk area i.e. in Africa and Latin America, you’re required to get the Yellow Fever vaccine. It is the only mandatory vaccine required by World Health Organization’s International Health Regulation (WHO-IHR 2005). And according to the IHR, passenger need to carry the International certificate of vaccination to show at the port of entry. Generally, this certificate will be printed in yellow and its detail and/or layout may be different according to each vaccination center. However, all valid certificate have to comply with WHO regulation for example;
Here is the standard international certificate of vaccination from WHO which we use in our clinic.
Anytime, when you get yellow fever vaccine anywhere. Please have a look and double check your vaccine certificate. Please do not miss the following points since they are important and might make your certificate invalid. 1. Check your name and your passport number. Both must be correct according to your passport. 2. All detail about yellow fever vaccination in this page must be completed.
3. Signature of the clinician and official stamp of the vaccination clinic are required. 4. This certificate must not contain any amendments/erasures. Please ask the clinic staff to replace the new one for you if there are some mistakes. 5. Finally, if everything is ok. Please keep it with you. And have a good trip! Safety of new live attenuated SA14-14-2 JE vaccine
Below is the article from World Health Organization regarding the safety of the new live attenuated JE vaccine;
You may also read them on WHO official website via this link:
Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine SafetyThe SA 14-14-2 live attenuated JE vaccine, produced by the Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, has been used on a large scale in China since 1988, and more recently has been being exported to several countries in the region. The uptake of this vaccine has increased substantially, and it is now the most widely used JE vaccine. GACVS has reviewed safety aspects of this vaccine at two of its meetings (twelfth, held on 9-10 June 2005, and fifteenth, held on 29-30 November 2006). GACVS reviewed data related to the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of the vaccine, and scrutinized data on co-administration with measles vaccine. GACVS concluded that the short-term safety profile of live JE vaccine appears satisfactory and that there appears to be a high level of vaccine efficacy after the administration of a single dose. The vaccine is immunogenic in infants from the age of eight months of age, and can be safely administered with measles vaccine from nine months. However, a modest reduction in both seroconversion and GMT titre has been observed for measles vaccine when co-administered with JE vaccine. Current data suggest, however, that the interference is only temporary, and co-administration of live JE vaccine and measles vaccine is acceptable. Further studies to confirm that measles vaccine effectiveness remains undiminished were encouraged. In relation to serious adverse events reported after mass vaccination campaigns in India during 2006, no direct causality has been established between the reported illnesses and the SA14-14-2 JE vaccine. Nevertheless, GACVS recommended that in future, potential vaccine-related serious adverse events should be better investigated. Furthermore, more investigations are required to assess the possible risk of low frequency adverse events (especially neurological). Since live JE vaccine is currently used in “catch-up” campaigns on many millions of children in Asian countries, the opportunity should be taken to examine whether the vaccine safety profile remains valid in large study populations.
Standby emergency treatment of malaria is another strategy to help the travelers safe from malaria. It is not the medication for prevention of malaria. That means there is no need to take the medication before or during trip in order to prevent malaria. In fact, it is a medication set for treatment of malaria. It can be used in case of emergency only. Just take this medication once when you develop fever while or after traveling in malaria risk area. And you could not seek for any medical care to check your blood. In that case, there is no way to know that you really get malaria or not. However when consider the fact that malaria especially P.falciparum is fatal if not promptly treated. So SBET may be life-saving. Doctors may prescribe SBET in some circumstances such as
Consider to use SBET when you
Recommended SBET in Thailand Since malaria in Thailand and Southeast Asia is multi-drug resistant strain. We generally use artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) to be our standard treatment regimen.
Other useful articles about SBET from our blog
ไข้ฉี่หนู Leptospirosisเรียบเรียงโดย ผู้ช่วยศาสตราจารย์อุษณีย์ สุทธิสารสุนทรจัดทำโดย คณะกรรมการแผ่นพับเพื่อการประชาสัมพันธ์ คณะเวชศาสตร์เขตร้อน มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล
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