Clin Infect Dis. 2013 Aug 13. [Epub ahead of print]
The Globalization of Health Care: Implications of Medical Tourism for the ID Clinician.
Source
Director of the Travel Medicine Center, Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, Massachusetts Assistant Clinical Professor, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract
Travel abroad for health care has increased rapidly; interventions include organ transplantation, cardiac surgery, reproductive care, and joint, cosmetic, dental procedures. Individuals who receive medical care abroad are a vulnerable, sentinel population, who sample the local environment and can carry home unusual and resistant infections, documented in many reports. Medical tourists are at risk for hospital-associated and procedure-related infections as well as for locally endemic infections. Patients may not volunteer details about care abroad, so clinicians must inquire about medical procedures abroad as well as recent travel. Special infection control measures may be warranted. Health care abroad is associated with diverse financial, legal, ethical and health-related issues. We focus on problems the infectious disease clinician may encounter and provide a framework for evaluating returned medical tourists with suspected infections. A better system is needed to ensure broad access to high quality health services, continuity of care, and surveillance for complications.
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