Abstract
Despite the considerable burden of helminth infections in developing countries and increasing international travel, little is known about the risks of infection for travelers. We studied the attack and incidence rate of serology confirmed strongyloidiasis, filariasis, and toxocariasis among long-term travelers and associated factors. A second objective was to evaluate eosinophilia as a positive/negative predictive value (PPV/NPV) for a recent helminth infection. From 2008 to 2011, clients of the Public Health Service travel clinic planning travel to (sub)tropical countries for 12-52 weeks were invited to participate in a prospective study. Participants kept a weekly diary, recording itinerary, symptoms, and physician visits during travel and completed a post-travel questionnaire. Pre- and post-travel blood samples were serologically tested for the presence of IgG antibodies against Schistosoma species, Strongyloides stercoralis, filarial species, and Toxacara species and were used for a blood cell count. Factors associated with recent infection were analyzed using Poisson regression. Differences among groups of travelers were studied using chi square tests. For the 604 participants, median age was 25 years (interquartile range ...Continue Reading
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