title: Executive summary of imported infectious diseases after returning from foreign travel: Consensus document of the Spanish Society for Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology (SEIMC).
abstract: In a global world, knowledge of imported infectious diseases is essential in daily practice, both for the microbiologist-parasitologist and the clinician who diagnoses and treats infectious diseases in returned travelers. Tropical and subtropical countries where there is a greater risk of contracting an infectious disease are among the most frequently visited tourist destinations. The SEIMC considers it appropriate to produce a consensus document that will be useful to primary care physicians as well as specialists in internal medicine, infectious diseases and tropical medicine who help treat travelers returning from tropical and sub-tropical areas with infections. Preventive aspects of infectious diseases and infections imported by immigrants are explicitly excluded here, since they have been dealt with in other SEIMC documents. Various types of professionals (clinicians, microbiologists, and parasitologists) have helped produce this consensus document by evaluating the available evidence-based data in order to propose a series of key facts about individual aspects of the topic. The first section of the document is a summary of some of the general aspects concerning the general assessment of travelers who return home with potential infections. The main second section contains the key facts (causative agents, diagnostic procedures and therapeutic measures) associated with the major infectious syndromes affecting returned travelers [gastrointestinal syndrome (acute or persistent diarrhea); febrile syndrome with no obvious source of infection; localized cutaneous lesions; and respiratory infections]. Finally, the characteristics of special traveler subtypes, such as pregnant women and immunocompromised travelers, are described.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Medicina Tropical, Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Electronic address: jlperez@dcmq.ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: José Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Pérez-Arellano
authors.affiliation: División de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Fundación Jiménez Díaz, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Górgolas-Hernández-Mora
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, PROSICS, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Salvador
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Medicina Tropical, Hospital Universitario Insular de Gran Canaria, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carranza-Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Aislamiento de Alto Nivel (UAAN), Sección de Infecciosas, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Central de la Defensa Gómez Ulla, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Germán
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ramírez-Olivencia
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario de Guadalajara, Guadalajara, Spain.
authors.forename: Esteban
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martín-Echeverría
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Tropicales, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias, Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Azucena
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodríguez-Guardado
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Referencia Nacional para Enfermedades Tropicales, Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, IRYCIS, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Norman
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Dermatología, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Virginia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Velasco-Tirado
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Basurto, Bilbao, Spain.
authors.forename: Zuriñe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zubero-Sulibarría
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital Príncipe de Asturias, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rojo-Marcos
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Centre for International Health Research (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muñoz-Gutierrez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital General Universitario de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: José Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ramos-Rincón
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Microbiología, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: M Paz
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Seco-Fariñas
authors.affiliation: Sección de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Medicina Interna, Hospital Universitario Fundación Alcorcón, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: María
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Velasco-Arribas
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Medicina Interna, Sección de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
authors.forename: Moncef
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Belhassen-García
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Servicio de Medicina Interna, Hospital La Paz, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Mar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lago-Nuñez
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: Elías
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cañas García-Otero
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Referencia Nacional para Enfermedades Tropicales, Servicio de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, IRYCIS, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Rogelio
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: López-Vélez
mesh_terms: D000076263:Communicable Diseases, Imported / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D014195:Travel
keywords: Enfermedades infecciosas importadas; Imported infectious diseases; International travelers; Returned traveler; Viajeros internacionales; Viajeros que regresan