Returned Travellers

This chapter outlines an approach to the diagnosis and management of travel-related disease for returned travellers, concentrating on infections imported from less economically advantaged areas of the world to the more affluent nations. It highlights key decision points in these steps, using worked examples and illustrative tables and algorithms. Patients who are suspected in community practice of having a specific illness, such as malaria, HIV infection or imported parasitosis, will usually need to be referred to hospital or clinic-based specialists for further investigation and management. In these cases the priorities are to prevent immediate morbidity and mortality and to minimise any public health risks to the general population or to healthcare workers. In some groups of travellers, post-travel health screening may be appropriate in either a general practice setting or in specialist clinics. The chapter concludes with a discussion on issues related to screening.