Vaccines Health Center
Travel Health - Topic Overview
How can you stay healthy on your trip?
The best way to stay healthy on your trip is to plan before you go. If you are planning to travel to another country, see a doctor at least 6 weeks before you leave so you will have time for vaccines (immunizations) that you may need to get ahead of time.
Also ask your doctor if there are medicines or extra safety steps that you should take. For example, people who have heart failure may need to take shorter flights with more stops to avoid long periods of sitting. Or someone visiting Africa may need to take medicine to prevent malaria.
Where can you get the best information?
You can use the Internet to find general travel health information. Just make sure the information is up-to-date and from a reliable source. You can also find out if there are any problems with disease outbreaks in the places you will be visiting. Try these websites:
- www.cdc.gov/travel. This is the website for travel information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
- www.who.int/ith/en. This website lists information on travel, required immunizations, and disease outbreaks from the World Health Organization (WHO).
If you are taking a cruise, you can find your ship's sanitation inspection scores on this website: www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp.
Find out where you can get the best medical care in the region you are visiting. The U.S. State Department’s website, www.usembassy.gov, lists every U.S. embassy worldwide and lists some doctors and medical facilities in those countries.
If you are traveling out of the country, take along the phone numbers and addresses of embassies in the areas you will visit. They can help you find a doctor or hospital. Find out if your insurance company will cover you. You may need special travel health insurance.
Which immunizations and medicines will you need?
Check with the nearest travel health clinic, your regional health department, or your doctor to see what kind of vaccines you should get. In the United States, most state health clinics can give you travel vaccines, some medicines, and healthy travel tips. If your state health clinic does not give vaccines for travelers, ask if there is a clinic nearby that does.
Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for most people traveling to developing countries. Hepatitis A (or Hep A) is one of the most common diseases found in returning travelers. You can easily prevent hepatitis A by getting the vaccine.
Make sure that all routine shots are up-to-date for you and your children. These shots can protect you from diseases such as polio, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, and rubella, which are still a problem in some developing countries.
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