title: Acute and potentially life-threatening tropical diseases in western travelers--a GeoSentinel multicenter study, 1996-2011.
abstract: We performed a descriptive analysis of acute and potentially life-threatening tropical diseases among 82,825 ill western travelers reported to GeoSentinel from June of 1996 to August of 2011. We identified 3,655 patients (4.4%) with a total of 3,666 diagnoses representing 13 diseases, including falciparum malaria (76.9%), enteric fever (18.1%), and leptospirosis (2.4%). Ninety-one percent of the patients had fever; the median time from travel to presentation was 16 days. Thirteen (0.4%) patients died: 10 with falciparum malaria, 2 with melioidosis, and 1 with severe dengue. Falciparum malaria was mainly acquired in West Africa, and enteric fever was largely contracted on the Indian subcontinent; leptospirosis, scrub typhus, and murine typhus were principally acquired in Southeast Asia. Western physicians seeing febrile and recently returned travelers from the tropics need to consider a wide profile of potentially life-threatening tropical illnesses, with a specific focus on the most likely diseases described in our large case series.
authors: Department of Infectious Diseases, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. mogens.jensenius@ioks.uio.no
authors: Mogens
authors: M
authors: Jensenius
authors: Pauline V
authors: PV
authors: Han
authors: Patricia
authors: P
authors: Schlagenhauf
authors: Eli
authors: E
authors: Schwartz
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Parola
authors: Francesco
authors: F
authors: Castelli
authors: Frank
authors: F
authors: von Sonnenburg
authors: Louis
authors: L
authors: Loutan
authors: Karin
authors: K
authors: Leder
authors: David O
authors: DO
authors: Freedman
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000354:Africa, Western; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001210:Asia, Southeastern; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003715:Dengue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007922:Leptospirosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D016778:Malaria, Falciparum / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012612:Scrub Typhus / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014195:Travel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014330:Tropical Medicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D014437:Typhus, Endemic Flea-Borne / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult