Role of Pneumococcal Vaccine in Travelers

1Prof. and Head, Department of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine; 2Assistant Professor, Department of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine. T a lot of people undertake i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a v e l . F o r such populat ion, a number of diseases may be encountered while traveling. While evaluating the need for vaccination in travelers, it is important to consider not only the incidence rate but also the impact of the respective infection.1 Immunized travelers are less likely to contaminate other travelers or the local population with a number of potential ly ser ious diseases. From a European survey, it was noticed that only2 52.1% of responders had sought travel health advice. The risk to a traveler of acquiring a disease depends on age, immunization status and current health state of traveler, travel itinerary, duration and style of travel. Based on these factors, health care professional has to decide about need for immunizations and/or prevent ive medicat ion (prophylaxis) and provide advice. Regardless of administration of vacc ine/ medicat ions t raveler should always follow all possible precautions against infection for avoiding disease. T h e r e c a n n o t b e s i n g l e vaccination schedule applicable t o a l l t r a ve l e r s . C o n s i d e r i n g individual traveler’s immunization history, the countries to be visited, the type and duration of travel, and the availability of time for vaccination before departure a tailor made schedule would be most appropriate.