Travel health update

Indemnity for travel vaccination rears its ugly head again, polio is becoming an increasing concern, and travellers are putting themselves at unnecessary risk – plus, a host of new resources for the traveller and conference news for travel advisers

INDEMNITY – AGAIN

In April I wrote about the new state-backed indemnity scheme for general practice in England, the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice, effective from 1 April 2019. At that time it appeared that the provision of private travel vaccines would not be covered. Then in May, the Scheme Scope document was published stating private travel vaccines were covered. However, this document was re-issued on 12 June, overturning this statement, and reverting to the fact that if you are administering private travel vaccines in a GP surgery in England you need to have additional indemnity to cover you. This has been confusing and I’m hoping most of you are already aware, and have the correct cover in place, but for a fuller explanation see my latest blog at http://janechiodini.blogspot.com/2019/06/clinical-negligence-scheme-for-general.html

POLIO UPDATE

The polio Public Health Emergency for International Concern (PHEIC) has been ongoing since 2014 and the 21st Emergency Committee met in May. Countries where evidence on an ICVP of a polio containing vaccine being received within the previous 12 months if a traveller is visiting for 4 weeks or longer is required now for Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Somalia. If this isn’t available then oral polio vaccine may be administered at the point of exit from those countries to prevent the spread of polio disease. See https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/news/422/polio-public-health-emergency-of-international-concern and a blog of last year which provides further resources at http://janechiodini.blogspot.com/2018/09/polio-and-pheic.html. Angola has recently had cases of cVDPV2 so all travellers should be up to date for polio going to this destination – see https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/news/429/angola-updated-recommendations-for-polio-vaccination

RISKY BEHAVIOURS

A new survey by Sanofi Pasteur of 2,000 people suggests that only 17% of UK holidaymakers always get a travel health risk assessment before going abroad. Respondents were unaware that vaccination may be recommended for some destinations, and of those who never get the recommended vaccinations for their destination (n=240), over half (55%) stated they didn’t know they needed to get any travel vaccinations, and 27% didn’t leave enough time to seek travel health advice before a trip. Nearly half (49%) of those who never get the recommended vaccinations cited cost as a reason.

NEW RESOURCES

• Public Health England (PHE) and the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) have joined forces to advise travellers to check their MMR vaccinations are up-to-date, as measles outbreaks continue across Europe. They have warned that measles remains a threat to the UK population, with 231 cases confirmed in England in the first quarter of 2019. A new video has been published on the PHE Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/PublicHealthEngland/videos/416938908892161/UzpfSTcwMTYyNzkzOTkwNTU5NToyMjgzMzE3ODI1MDY5OTI0/
• The World Health Organization has also published some excellent materials on their Facebook page, including a poster for travellers about MMR at https://www.facebook.com/WHO/photos/a.167668209945237/2439758739402828/?type=3&theater
• The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has updated its guidance for Travel and mental health, providing advice for British nationals with mental health needs, their families and carers, to prepare for travelling and living abroad. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/foreign-travel-advice-for-people-with-mental-health-issues#history
• The June Vaccine Update (page 3) has details of a new PHE leaflet ‘Rabies Information for travellers’ which can be ordered free of charge from the Health and Social Care Publications Orderline at https://www.orderline.dh.gov.uk/ecom_dh/public/home.jsf (publication code: 400322RT).

TRAVEL MEDICINE CONFERENCES

The Faculty of Travel Medicine (RCPSG) Annual Symposium will be held in Glasgow on Thursday 9 October. Highlights include migrant health and travel, infectious disease update including dengue fever and malaria, new technologies in managing travellers health and occupational travel health. More details at https://rcpsg.ac.uk/events/TravelMedicineAnnualSymposium-2019-10-09-52. The 8th Northern European Travel Medicine Conference (NECTM8) is to be held on 3-5 June 2020 in Rotterdam in The Netherlands. More details at https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/media_lib/mlib-uploads/full/nectm8.pdf