Travel medicine merges what I love about my studies and one of my favouite hobbies – travelling! I love it because there is so much to it and it is super diverse. It is a combination of infectious disease (super fascinating! Viruses, bacteria and parasites, you know? 🪱), public health (basically how to keep the population safe and happy 🧘‍♂️) and global awareness (everything about our beautiful planet we live on 🌍).

First of all, it is about knowing your destination! You have to get to know the geography and culture of the countries you are travelling to and make a deep dive into local health risks such as region specific illnesses, insects and vector borne infections or even possible threats of (wild) animals, food safety and hygiene.

Then of course, it is about knowing your type of travelling and what you want to do in the country you are visiting. Is it all about sports, hiking, diving or are you even planning on going back-country, are you planning an expedition and going on an adventure? Those kind of travels may include thrilling aspects of medicine such as physiology and pathology in high altitudes, extreme preassure differences you might experience while diving or sports medicine in general. If you are looking for relaxation tmes and want to go on beach holidays or on a cruise, however, we have to focus on something completely different like one of the biggest threats out there – the sun! Never forget to bring your sunscreen. And then of course, many travels include airplanes and flying. And of course our bodies act and react different in those huge metal birds! Flight medicine is also one aspect of travel medicine, as is jet lag prevention.

After having planned your perfect vacation, it is important to know how to prepare and what to bring (or what might be useless anyway and how you might safe some space in your suitcase for souvenirs). In travel medicine we advice about essential first aid kits and prophylaxis of diseases, such as malaria prophylaxis. Of course vaccines are one of the biggest accomplishments of the last century and an easy way to prevent infection. Also, never forget about your travel health insurance!

Finally, after you‘ve had the trip of your lifetime, you still might have forgotten about that lake or river you were told be the locals not to swim in and you might have developed a fever, a rash or persisting GI-issues. Don‘t worry! Travel medicine doctors can also take care of that and might even get excited about extracting a small parasite out of your wound in order to show it to their med students 😉

All in all, travel medicine is one of the most diverse fields of medicine and most importantly it is a wonderfully positive field where it is all about making everything possible for you to enjoy your vacation!