Travellers with Special Needs

Certain groups may be at increased risk or may face particular issues when travelling. Pregnant travellers and children present several questions around vaccination, travellers’ diarrhoea, malaria and noninfectious problems that are distinctly different to other travellers. These issues are dealt with in Sects. 7.1 and 7.2. Older travellers (Sect. 7.3) are also becoming increasingly recognised as having several specific requirements that deserve their own consideration. Other groups of travellers including humanitarian workers, expatriates, VFRs and those with underlying chronic medical conditions (Sects. 7.4–7.9) all have varied requirements that are different to the standard adult traveller. Immunocompromised hosts (Sects. 7.10–7.12) present a further challenge for the travel medicine practitioner and require a significant level of expertise in order to deal with the many difficult issues that will arise within a consultation. Finally, medical tourists (Sect. 7.13) pose an entirely different set of issues that practitioners must become familiar with. This chapter provides specific information and recommendations regarding these varied groups of travellers.