Gastrointestinal complaints were the most common health problem reported by international travelers participating in a study on travel-related illnesses.
The study is based on data from a mobile application developed by researchers at the University of Zurich (UZH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
“Travelers are a great reflection of what is happening around the world. They are also often responsible for introducing pathogens into different parts of the world. This real-time, bottom-up approach “Mobile technology offers an innovative solution to the way travel-related illnesses are tracked,” said Patricia, research leader at the UZH Institute of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention. Schlagenhauf said.
Scientists said early detection and reporting of travel-related illnesses is critical to implementing effective public health measures. The top-down system relies on medical professionals, laboratories, and public health authorities for mandatory infectious disease reporting.
Bottom-up reporting by travelers enables timely detection of disease clusters, allowing for rapid investigation and intervention, and providing insight into environmental exposures, local risk factors, and potential disease hotspots. You can get it.
Tracing travel-related infections
The Illness Tracking in Travelers (ITIT) app allows people to report their daily symptoms by type, intensity and impact by completing a short questionnaire. This information is linked to location data, climate and air quality information.
The research team analyzed data collected through the app from April 2022 to July 2023. The analysis included 470 trips recorded by 609 people from all continents. The findings were published in the journal BMJ Open.
The average age of participants was 37 years, but their ages ranged from 18 to 79 years, and the average trip length was 26 days (range 2 to 281 days). Most people traveled for leisure and tourism, followed by trips to visit friends and relatives, and then business trips.
Overall, 404 travelers who downloaded the app and completed the demographic survey also completed at least one survey each day. Of the 470 trips registered, 163 trips reported symptoms for at least one day during the trip. Gastrointestinal problems were reported on 87 trips.
The most common health problem was gastrointestinal symptoms, reported in 19% of trips and most frequently reported in travelers to Asia, where the risk of foodborne illness is high. These symptoms were less common in people going to Africa. Significantly more women than men reported diarrhea symptoms. Women may have had diarrhea more easily, or they may have been more cautious when recording information on the app.
Travel duration, high humidity, and atmospheric ammonia were associated with the presence or absence of gastrointestinal symptoms. Symptoms of diarrhea, headache, and nausea have the greatest impact on daily life.
One possible bias could be that the dataset included people who are more health conscious and actively participate in citizen science.
The free ITIT app is available in 14 languages. Researchers are encouraging more people to use the app. Large datasets allow automated analysis using artificial intelligence. The updated app also monitors for illnesses that persist after travel.
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