Travel can be challenging enough without the added difficulty of getting sick. One way to prevent this unfortunate circumstance, or to minimize its effect once it happens, is to visit the travel website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) before you go.
In addition to general consumer information, such as how to find a clinic when you’re on the road, travel medicine resources (books, journal articles, etc.) and websites for state department offices where you’re headed, the CDC also offers direction about how to prepare specifically for your destination, such as what vaccinations are required and/or suggested.
It also helps refine your planning by:
- establishing a traveler profile – are you traveling with children? Are you pregnant? Are you cruising, or planning physical adventures?
- posting notices pertinent to places you’re going – did you know there’s a measles outbreak in the Philippines?
- advising how to cope while traveling with a chronic condition;
- helping plan for an extended stay in a foreign country.