Travel Health
Summer 2013
Thinking Ahead
Guidelines
Public Health England (PHE)
 Malaria prevention guidelines - includes ACMP Guidelines (2007), updates,
and FAQs on malaria prevention and treatment.
Clinical Knowledge Summaries (CKS)
 Malaria Prophylaxis (Feb 2012) - Advice on malaria prevention in adults,
children and pregnancy.
 Immunizations - Travel (August 2012) - Includes vaccination advice if needing
to travel at short notice.
 Deep Vein Thrombosis - prevention for travellers (May 2009).
 Diarrhoea - prevention and advice for travellers (Sep 2009).
Medicines Q&As
 Q&A 288.2 What information is available on drugs in diving?
 Q&A 25.3 Which medicines prevent Acute Mountain Sickness?
Patient Information
NHS Choices - Travel Health. Information and practical advice on a variety of
travel related health topics.
National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)
 Health information for travellers, searchable by country and geographic area
Fit for Travel (www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk)
 General travel advice searchable by country.
Patient UK (www.patient.co.uk)
 A collection of useful links and an extensive selection of information leaflets on
travel health for members of the public
Pregnancy and Lactation
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG)
 The prevention of malaria in pregnancy (April 2010)
 Air travel and Pregnancy (Dec 2008) - Opinion Paper
UK Teratology Information Service
 Malaria Prophylaxis in pregnancy
 Use of Malarone in pregnancy
 Use of Yellow Fever Vaccine in pregnancy
General Reviews
Cochrane Reviews
 Drugs for preventing malaria in travellers (2010) Atovaquone-proguanil and
doxycycline were the best tolerated, whereas mefloquine had more side
effects. However, other factors need to be considered when choosing an
appropriate antimalarial.
 Insecticide-treated bed nets and curtains for preventing malaria (2009) - Good
evidence that insecticide-treated nets can reduce deaths in children by one fifth
and episodes of malaria by half.
 Electronic mosquito repellents for preventing mosquito bites and malaria
infection (2010) – Field studies show no effect on preventing mosquito bites.
There is no justification for marketing them as malaria prevention.
 Antibiotic Treatments for Traveller’s diarrhoea (2009) Antibiotic treatment for
traveller’s diarrhoea can shorten duration and severity of traveller’s diarrhoea.
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (Registration required for full-text access)
 Management of simple insect bites: where’s the evidence? (2012) Discusses
the evidence base for management of simple insect bites.
 Sunscreen SPFs: Clear as Daylight? (2011) Editorial which calls into question
NICE guidance that SPF15 should be recommended, suggesting SPF30 may
be a more practical recommendation.
Other Travel Health Information
Public Health England (PHE)
 Malaria Reference Laboratory – Advice for health professionals only on
complex malaria prophylaxis queries
 Travel Health – General information and links
National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC)
 Travel health information for Healthcare Professionals including clinical updates
on recent outbreaks, health information sheets, country specific travel Health
advice, Yellow fever vaccination centres.
 ‘Yellow Book’ Health Information for Overseas Travel (July 2010) – available to
buy from NaTHNaC
The Lancet
Malaria collection - a collection of research, review and opinion articles about the
worldwide impact of malaria. This collection is free access.
Medicines Q&A
 Q&A 259.3 Malaria Prophylaxis: What can be given to breast-feeding mothers?
 Q&A 376.1 Yellow fever vaccine – is it safe whilst breast feeding?
Produced by H Johnson, Regional Drug and Therapeutics Centre Newcastle Upon Tyne. May 2013