# 7545
As international travel increases, so do the chances that travelers will contract and transport diseases from one area of the globe to another. A person can be bitten by a Dengue carrying mosquito in Bali today and be in Los Angeles for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Which means that doctors just about anywhere in the world are faced with advising patients on how to avoid (or worse, must diagnose when they return) rarely seen or unusual diseases like Chikungunya, Dengue, and Cholera.
Every two years the CDC publishes their `Yellow Book’, a reference for those who advise international travelers about health risks. While written primarily for Health Care providers, the yellow book is a tremendously valuable resource for all.
You find it chock full of maps, charts, and advice and information on everything from Amebiasis to Yersiniosis, and scores of infectious diseases in-between.
For those who will refer to it often, a hard copy is available from the Oxford University Press. You can also order a copy from online booksellers such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
But for casual users, or those on a budget, the text of the the 2012 Yellow Book is available online on the CDC’s Traveler’s Health website .
Yellow Book Homepage
Details are available from a CDC press release, dated yesterday, including the welcome news that a mobile app version will be available later in the year.
Press Release
For Immediate Release
August 6, 2013Contact: CDC Media Relations
(404) 639-3286CDC Releases 2014 Edition of "Yellow Book"
New edition provides updated health information for international travel
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today released the online version of the 2014 edition of CDC Health Information for International Travel, commonly known as the “Yellow Book.” Nicknamed for its yellow cover, this is the ultimate guide for healthy international travel. The most recent version includes special guidance for people who will be living long-term in areas with malaria. The 2014 edition also expanded its chapter on select destinations, providing insiders’ knowledge and specific health risks about popular tourist destinations.
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The 2014 edition also includes the following new features:
- An expanded destination-specific list of vaccine requirements and recommendations to help travelers prepare for their next trip
- Updated malaria risk and prevention information, along with ten new country-specific malaria maps, showing travelers if they will be in an area with malaria and how best to prevent it
- New sections on infectious diseases related to travel: Escherichia coli, Salmonellosis, Fascioliasis, and Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease
- New select destinations: Jamaica, Thailand, Vietnam, and Angkor Wat in Cambodia
- Updated disease risk maps to help travelers understand where important diseases occur
An invaluable resource for healthcare practitioners and infectious disease bloggers alike, the Yellow Book also provides a great reference for anyone about to embark on an international journey.
While the lists of exotic diseases may appear formidable, if you are knowledgeable and take the proper precautions, the odds of odds of contracting a serious illness while traveling are small.
So after you’ve perused the cruise line’s brochure, or the tour guide’s pamphlet – and well before you depart – it would be prudent to check the Yellow Book to see what types of diseases threats you might encounter, and what steps you should take to avoid contracting them.
Highly recommended.
