The Importance of Experience

One of our recent clients, Linda, decided to write a report of how her visit in our office impacted her. She tells of her experience and how the conversation with Becky, a Passport Health Colorado Registered Nurse located in Colorado Springs, helped her identify what kinds of medications and vaccinations she needed for the regions she will be traveling to on her upcoming trip to Malawi and Ethiopia. Click here to read her story and to see how satisfied she was with our Travel Health Nurse Specialist Becky.

Measles Awareness Report

In 2007, when Japanese tourists were restricted from the flight home from Canada due to 1-2 members of the group contracting the measles disease, every person in the 42-person group who did not have a record of being vaccinated for measles had to be quarantined for 3-5 days before being allowed to complete their trip back to Japan. In 2004, 25% of students contracted measles while on a trip to India and the containment efforts have been estimated to cost $142,452 (Dayan GH, Ortega-Sanchez IR, LeBaron CW, et al. Iowa, 2004. Pediatrics 2005; 116:e1-e4).

Due to low vaccine coverage in areas with high reports of the disease and the increase of tourism travel to these areas, eradication programs continue to be complicated and face resistence. Many people aren’t fully aware of the disease itself, much less the need for vaccination against it. Even in the United States, measles are starting to outbreak due to people who have not been properly vaccinated coming back from overseas travel to areas where the disease is prevelant. The latest report of outbreak is ongoing in Arizona and is linked to importation; the alert was sent on April 3, 2008 via a Health Advisory to all healthcare providers.

Measles is a highly contagious infectious diseas, with potentially fatal complication, and still stands as a cause of public health concern in developing countries (ISTM, Journal of Travel Medicine, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2008, pp124-125). It is recommended that anyone born after 1957 get properly vaccinated with a primary series as a pediatric and one booster as an adult. Passport Health Colorado offers the MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella) vaccine in all of our locations along the Front Range, please call us at: 303-442-8728 or 719-387-5528 if you have further questions or concerns.