title: Visiting relatives and friends (VFR), pregnant, and other vulnerable travelers.
abstract: With industrial development and expanding tourism, many people now have an opportunity to travel to many previously unreachable foreign destinations. Travelers with medical or physical conditions or who are vulnerable because of pregnancy or age (pediatric or elderly traveler), require specialist support and advice before traveling. Immigrants who return to their country of birth to visit relatives and friends should be classified as vulnerable travelers, as they have been shown to carry a disproportionate burden of travel-related morbidity. In this article, we explore the major risks to health and the main preventive strategies appropriate to the most vulnerable travelers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Spedali Civili Hospital, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy. matteelli@med.unibs.it
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Matteelli
authors.forename: Anna Cristina C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bigoni
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods*; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000379:methods; D011634:Public Health; D012307:Risk Factors; D014186:Transportation / Q000379:methods; D014195:Travel