title: Tintin's travel traumas: Health issues affecting the intrepid globetrotter.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite the highly hazardous life-style led by comic book characters such as Tintin, we are unaware of any previous systematic description of the challenges and health impairments faced by Tintin in the course of his adventures.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated the spectrum of health impairments (HIs) that Tintin sustained in his 23 adventures as well as their causes, consequences, and relation to travel. We diagnosed Tintin's HIs according to descriptive terms in the text. We then classified HIs as traumatic and non-traumatic, and distinguished between intentional (those perpetrated by others) and unintentional events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found 236 events leading to 244 HIs, 13 kidnappings, six hospitalisations and two surgical procedures. There was a median of 8 HIs/adventure (range 1-30/adventure). The mean number of HIs per adventure was much greater before 1945 than subsequently (14.9 vs. 6.1; P=0.002), which was also true of the number of kidnappings (11 vs. 2; P=0.001). Of the 244 HIs, there were 191 cases of trauma (78.3%) and 53 non-traumatic problems (21.7%). The most common form of trauma was concussion (62%) whereas the most common forms of non-traumatic problems were sleep problems (15.1%), depression/anxiety (13%), and gas or chloroform poisoning (13%). Overall, we found 46 losses of consciousness (LoC), including 29 traumatic and 17 non-traumatic LoCs. Of the 236 events, there were 69 (29%) perpetrated by others against Tintin (including 55 homicide attempts), and 167 (71%) events that were not (including 69 events related to Tintin's actions).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Tintin's almost superhuman qualities, a luxury afforded him by his fictional status, make him highly resistant to trauma. He is also not susceptible to the usual travel-related illnesses but is easily influenced by his friends and Snowy, his faithful hound.
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, hôpitaux universitaires Pitié-Salpêtrière, Charles-Foix, infectious and tropical diseases department, Sorbonne universités, UPMC université de Paris 06, UMRS 943, 75013 Paris, France. Electronic address: eric.caumes@psl.aphp.fr.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Caumes
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, hôpitaux universitaires Pitié-Salpêtrière, Charles-Foix, infectious and tropical diseases department, Sorbonne universités, UPMC université de Paris 06, UMRS 943, 75013 Paris, France.
authors.forename: Loïc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Epelboin
authors.affiliation: Hôpital Cochin, laboratoire de génétique moléculaire, UPMC, Inserm UMRS 974, 75014 Paris, France.
authors.forename: France
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leturcq
authors.affiliation: Emory University, department of medicine, division of infectious diseases, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Phyllis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kozarsky
authors.affiliation: Manx Text, 118, Woodbourne road, IM2 3BA, Douglas, British Isles, Isle of Man.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Clarke
mesh_terms: D002359:Cartoons as Topic; D014195:Travel; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic