title: The elderly, the young and the pregnant traveler -- A retrospective data analysis from a large Swiss Travel Center with a special focus on malaria prophylaxis and yellow fever vaccination.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vulnerable individuals such as elderly, children/adolescents and pregnant/breastfeeding women increasingly travel overseas. We describe the travel and vaccination patterns of these groups at the largest Travel Clinic in Switzerland especially focusing on travel to yellow fever and malaria-endemic countries, and yellow fever vaccination (YFV) and malaria medications.
  
  
  METHODS
  An analysis of pre-travel visits between 2010 and 2012 at the Travel Clinic of the University of Zurich, was performed assessing differences between the elderly, young and middle-aged travelers as well as between pregnant/breastfeeding and other female travelers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, the vulnerable groups did not differ from other travelers regarding their travel patterns. YFV was the most often administered vaccine to elderly travelers; half of them received it for the first time. More than 30% of children/adolescents received YFV, but no child below six months was vaccinated. 80% of young travelers and a similar percentage of pregnant women went to malaria-endemic regions. Twenty-five pregnant/breastfeeding women traveled to YF endemic areas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Travel patterns of vulnerable travelers are comparable to those of other travelers. In view of the limited data on malaria medications and precautions against YFV during pregnancy and at the extreme ages of life, giving travel advice to these groups is challenging.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology, Basel University Hospital, Petersgraben 4, 4031 Basel, Switzerland; Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Department of Medicine and Diagnostics, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: veronika.jaeger@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Veronika K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Jaeger
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Division of Infectious Diseases/Travel Clinic, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Hirschengraben 84, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: nadine.gfrerer@ifspm.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Nadine
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tschudi
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Division of Infectious Diseases/Travel Clinic, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Hirschengraben 84, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: rolanda.r@gmx.ch.
authors.forename: Rolanda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rüegg
authors.affiliation: Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Department of Medicine and Diagnostics, Socinstrasse 57, 4051 Basel, Switzerland; Department of Public Health, Division of Infectious Diseases/Travel Clinic, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Hirschengraben 84, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: christoph.hatz@unibas.ch.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Division of Infectious Diseases/Travel Clinic, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Hirschengraben 84, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: silja.buehler@ifspm.uzh.ch.
authors.forename: Silja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bühler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000962:Antimalarials / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001942:Breast Feeding; D002648:Child; D019353:Endemic Diseases; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland; D014195:Travel; D014611:Vaccination / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015004:Yellow Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D022341:Yellow Fever Vaccine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D055815:Young Adult; D016903:Drug Monitoring
chemical_list: D000962:Antimalarials; D022341:Yellow Fever Vaccine
keywords: Malaria medication; Pre-travel advice; Travel pattern; Vulnerable travelers; Yellow fever vaccination