A worrying number of Australians heading overseas are unaware of – or disregard – the dangers to their health and risk contracting life-threatening diseases when travelling to high-risk regions.

TOO many Australians are heading overseas unaware of – or disregard – the dangers to their health, Travelvax Australia’s Medical Director, Dr Eddy Bajrovic has warned.
Because of lack of exposure in childhood, many adult Australians are at danger of contracting diseases when travelling to the world’s high-risk regions, including many developing countries.

This exposes them to diseases like Hepatitis A and B, and Typhoid, which are endemic among the local population in developing countries, plus mosquito-borne malaria and Dengue fever in tropical and sub-tropical regions.Young backpackers who travel for prolonged periods in countries with poor hygienic conditions, and travellers who visit friends and relatives in their country of origin are likely to be at particular risk.

Dr Bajrovic said while hard data regarding vaccination rates among young adults – the largest proportion of Aussie travellers – is scant, it is almost certainly lower than for any other age group. Yet young adults are more likely to indulge in unprotected sex, have accidents and injuries requiring hospital treatment, make poor food and beverage choices, and not take measures to avoid mosquito bites, he said.
Dr Bajrovic’s comments echoed a recent US survey which revealed that while young adults grew up in an era of information overload, they have alarmingly little awareness of the risk vaccine-preventable diseases and the need to keep up vaccinations into adulthood. The survey by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) showed 84 percent of Americans over the age of 50 know that tetanus causes lockjaw and a booster is needed every 10 years. By contrast, just 49 percent of young adults aged 18 to 26 were aware of this.