Chapter Seven

Online travel health resources

US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Official inoculation and health recommendations for international travelers. Online database includes updated international health news and travel health tips for every country in the world. A great starting point for health and vaccination information about your destination.

World Health Organization
Updated health information for international travelers, including disease distribution maps and current health news on a country-by-country basis.

Travel Health Online
Well-organized and comprehensive health website for travelers. Gives extensive listings on individual countries, including level of medical care, economic/political standing, vaccination issues, and possible health concerns.

MDTravelHealth.com
Complete travel health information, updated daily, for physicians and travelers.

Adventure Doc
Dr. Erik McLaughlin's free, web-based resource for travel health. Includes articles and information on tropical medicine, fitness, diet, remote medicine, and global health.

Travel health books

The Rough Guide to Travel Health, by Nick Jones (Rough Guides, 2004).
Includes a section on pre-trip health planning, an encyclopedia of health problems, and an international section dedicated to specific countries' health risks.

Shitting Pretty: How to Stay Clean and Healthy While Traveling, by Jane Wilson-Howarth (Travelers' Tales, May 2000)
A humorous, sympathetic approach to travel health, including tips on how to avoid diarrhea, parasites, and all manner of tropical diseases.

The Pocket Doctor: A Passport to Healthy Travel, by Stephen Bezruchka (Mountaineers Books, March 1999)
A small, easy-to-pack guide to identifying and avoiding ailments on the road.

Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook, by Jane Maxwell (Hesperian Foundation, 1992)
Designed for aid workers and missionaries, this classic public-health text has meant survival for thousands in the Third World since the early 1970s.