In a recent story out of London showed that in the last ten years there has been a doubling of leishmaniasis cases seen in the European country. This is exclusively attributed to adventure vacations or ecotourism.
Leishmaniasis is just one in a plethora of infectious agents that are acquired and sometimes brought back home from these sorts of vacations.
According to Answers.com ecotourism is “tourism involving travel to areas of natural or ecological interest, typically under the guidance of a naturalist, for the purpose of observing wildlife and learning about the environment.”
The problem is during these trips there is an increased chance of exposure to animals and insects that carry some pretty bad diseases not found in places like the United States or Europe.
Whether is a major jungle expedition or a kayaking adventure in Asia, Africa or Central America, it is important for people to take the right immunization and other preventive measures and precautions.
We all know of the risks of malaria, the various intestinal parasites, and other animal and insect borne diseases out there, but there are some that are even more obscure and very deadly that many people never heard of.
Back in 2007, a 34 year old Amsterdam woman who was a visitor to a game park in Kenya has returned home after her travels only to be hospitalized with rabies-like symptoms.
What she picked up was the Duvenhage virus from getting superficial scratches on her nose from a bat.
Duvenhage virus is a lyssavirus which is closely related to rabies. This rare disease is to be found in microbats.
The patient did not survive this infection.
Another unusual and deadly virus is the Herpes B virus that is found in Asian macaques. The Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1 is endemic in these monkeys and causes no obvious signs of disease.
However exposure to a human (through bites or scratches for example) usually results in fatal encephalomyelitis or severe neurologic impairment. The mortality rate is estimated to be 80% in untreated humans but herpes B virus zoonosis can be effectively managed with early detection of this deadly agent.
Before going on a ecotour or exotic adventure, check with your doctor or travel medicine specialist on what you should do to prepare. You can also check out the CDC Travel Health web page.
Other infectious and tropical diseases that could be encountered depending on where you go:
Malaria
Schistosomiasis
Traveler’s diarrhea
Yellow fever
Chaga’s disease
Dengue fever
Filariasis
Typhoid fever
Leptospirosis
Myiasis
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