Approximately one in three travelers will become ill, with gastrointestinal and respiratory illnesses being the most common symptoms. These are the findings of a new study based on data from a travel app developed by researchers at the University of Zurich. This app could be used in the future to detect outbreaks of infectious diseases at an early stage.
Travelers often take away more than just memories when they go abroad. Unfortunately, you may also experience health problems brought on by pathogens. Data collected by a new travel app developed by UZH researchers in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that this is now happening far too often. In addition to being useful for travelers, the app could also be useful in tracking the outbreak and spread of infectious diseases such as dengue fever and new influenza viruses.
Travelers are a good reflection of what’s happening around the world. They are also often involved in introducing pathogens to different parts of the world. ”
Patricia Schlagenhauf, Research Leader, UZH Institute of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention
As an example, she cites a recent case of mpox in Sweden, which was imported by a traveler returning from Africa.
Tracking the spread of infection
The Illness Tracking in Travelers (ITIT) app allows people on the move to report their daily symptoms by filling out a short, easy-to-use questionnaire. This information is linked to location data, climate and air quality information. The research team has now analyzed data collected through the app from April 2022 to July 2023. The analysis included 470 trips recorded by 609 people from all continents. Travelers got sick alarmingly often while traveling, with health problems occurring on more than a third of trips.
Gastrointestinal symptoms are at the top of the list
The most common health problem was gastrointestinal symptoms, reported in 19% of trips and most frequently reported in travelers to Asia. In contrast, these symptoms occurred less frequently in people traveling to Africa. Significantly more women than men reported symptoms of diarrhea. Women may be more susceptible to diarrhea or may be more conscientious in recording symptom information on the app.
In contrast, among European travelers, respiratory illnesses such as the common cold (17%) were most common. “Remember that even if you are traveling to a country that is considered low risk, such as France or Greece, you need to carry a first aid kit with you,” says Schlagenhauf. Research shows that diarrhea, nausea, headache, and fever are the most limiting health problems while traveling, so travelers are encouraged to carry medication to treat these symptoms. .
healthy and safe travel
The research team hopes to get even more people to use the app in the future. Large datasets would allow researchers to use artificial intelligence to perform automated analysis, which could be used, for example, to detect dengue or mpox outbreaks at an early stage.
“This real-time, bottom-up approach is much faster than top-down reporting systems,” Schlagenhauf says. Even in well-organized government agencies like the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, it often takes several months before case numbers are available. “Mobile technology offers innovative solutions to how we track travel-related illnesses, which will ultimately make travel safer and healthier.”
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Reference magazines:
Lavie, T., et al. (2024) Global travel-related disease surveillance using a new app: a multivariate cross-sectional study. BMJ open. doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083065.
