March 2012

President's Message

The strategic goals for my ISTM presidential term have been to

• Stimulate education, service and research critical to the advancement of the practice, science, and specialty of travel medicine;
• Grow as an international society, representative of the travel medicine community across borders and across continents; and,
• Strive for a diverse membership, actively engaged with each other internationally and globally

To assist in meeting these goals, the ISTM Executive Board appointed a special Task Force on International Outreach (TFIO) charged with evaluating how best to develop ISTM as a truly vibrant international society, meeting the needs of its many different members. The Task Force was asked to evaluate benefits, liabilities and obstacles to this, and to identify activities and actions to facilitate it.

Under the steady hand of Robert Steffen, the TFIO Members were sent a description of the Charge, background materials and a variety of membership graphs and statistics, and were asked to provide their initial thoughts and responses to the information and to some specific questions. Their replies were reviewed, collated and ranked for discussion.

The Task Force also created and distributed a questionnaire to leaders and officers of national and regional travel medicine societies and groups from around the world. Additionally, personal interviews were conducted with some travel medicine practitioners and leaders.

Task Force Meeting Attendees from left to right back row Jacquie Brezovski, David Shlim, Robert Steffen, Julie Gallagher, Martin Grobusch, Jesse Alves, Liu Zhiyong, Watcharapong Piyaphanee, Rogelio Lopez-Velez. Bottom Row Fiona Genasi, Diane Nickolson, Lin Jianwei, Tony Gherardin

The Task Force met in Munich on 11-13 February this year. I attended this meeting, being keen and excited to hear the discussions as they unfolded. The detailed preparatory work certainly paid off since the group had a lot of material to refer to and help inform their debate - allowing some important conclusions and recommendations to be reached on things like current membership structure, member benefits and ISTM programmes.

I would like to acknowledge the contributions of each member of the TFIO at this meeting. I was truly impressed with the candour, collegiality and sincere efforts of everyone as we discussed challenges as well as opportunities. Robert and David were genius in pulling the diverse strands of conversation together, and made everyone feel able to freely contribute their views and opinions.

TFIO Chair Robert Steffen, Switzerland
TFIO Co-Chair David Shlim, United States of America
TFIO Members
Jesse Alves, Brazil
Jacquie Brezovski, Canada
Julie Gallagher, United Kingdom
Tony Gherardin, Australia
Martin Grobusch, The Netherlands
Rogelio Lopez-Velez, Spain
Watcharapong Piyaphanee, Thailand
Liu Zhiyong, China

I look forward to the Executive Board meeting in May when the TFIO recommendations will be carefully reviewed and discussed. However, even more than that, I can't wait to get started with the new initiatives the Task Force report will certainly prompt. We will be sure to bring you the outcomes in the next issue of NewsShare.

Cheers,
Fiona

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From the Editor

Peter Leggat

Members are the most important part of any professional organization and it is only with the participation of its members that these groups can continue to function and flourish. Diane Nickolson, our Executive Director, has listed in this issue of ISTM NewsShare current committee members and leaders and we wish to recognise all those Members, who have made a contribution to building a strong Society, since its inception. It is great to see that the ISTM President, Fiona Genasi, has been promoting the important deliberations of the Task Force on International Outreach (TFIO). The TFIO is charged with pursuing recommendations to support the principles of service, professional development, internationalization and diversity articulated in Fiona's strategic goals for her Presidential term, which are important for ISTM's global mission in travel medicine. The ISTM surely must be heading in the right direction with the Secretary-Treasurer, David Freedman, indicating in his report that we already have 250 new members joining the Society in 2012.

In this issue, all readers should note that the countdown has already begun to the Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference 2012 (APTHC 2012) being held in conjunction with the 5th Regional Conference of the ISTM (RCISTM5) in Singapore and it shows that we are just weeks away from the opening ceremony for this scientific meeting being held from 2-5 May 2012. Singapore is an excellent location for the RCISTM5 being at the heart of the rapidly developing region of South East Asia and being a fusion of the best of the east meets west. An excellent scientific program awaits Conference participants. An important deadline closing rapidly is for those wanting to register for the Certificate in Travel Health^TM (CTH^®) examination being held before the RCISTM5. Those who wish to do the CTH^® examination should read the article by the Chair of the Examinations Committee, Kenneth Dardick. Hopefully, many of those who were interested in taking the examination were able to attend the North American Travel Medicine Review Course, which attracted 130 participants from 11 countries, as you will see reported by the Course Director, Elizabeth D. Barnett.

In other articles in this issue of ISTM NewsShare, Members will read the article by David Shlim, ISTM President-Elect, concerning the 30th Anniversary of the CIWEC Clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal. Described by David as "the world's most famous little travel medicine clinic," it celebrates this landmark anniversary with a special conference that will be held in Kathmandu on 12 May 2012 following the RCISTM5 in Singapore. Back to ISTM meetings, it only seems like the other day that we were in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, for the highly successful 12th Conference of the ISTM (CISTM12), but Mary Wilson, Chair of the Scientific Committee of the 13th Conference of the ISTM (CISTM13), reminds us that CISTM13 is being held in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 19-23 May 2013. Save these dates! With over 140 proposals submitted for sessions at CISTM13, there is considerable interest in this meeting in Maastricht, which is a popular travel destination in the Netherlands with great cultural, historical and other tourist attractions!

This issue of NewsShare also keeps members up-to-date about some of the important work being undertaken by our professional and interest groups. Members will be particularly interested to read about the growing list of educational resources available in the ISTM with over 60 sessions available in the ISTM Distance Learning Program. One of the last technological innovations is the first ISTM Webinar to be held on 30 May2012 on "Preparing your patients for mass gatherings: Euro 2012 and the London Olympics." Organisers of the 2012 European Football Championship (Euro 2012), held from 8 June to 1 July 2012, expect 1.4 million spectators and the City of London expects more than 500,000 spectators at the London Olympics to be held from 27 July to 12 August 2012, which will be followed soon after by the Paralympic Games from 29 August to 9 September 2012. Those working in travel medicine around the world will play an important part in the preparation of tourists, supporters, athletes, officials and volunteers for such events, particularly the London Olympics. Congratulations to Lin Chen, Director of the Webinar Program, for organizing this. Members will also be pleased to read the report from Garth Brink, Chair of the Destination Communities Support Interest Group, that "The Responsible Traveler" book mark will become more widely available as an advocacy tool within the travel industry.

This Editorial can only touch the surface of the many activities within the ISTM and we should applaud all our volunteers working to make the Society the strong organization it is today. I would like to thank all those that have contributed to this issue of NewsShare, particularly Kathy Smith and Diane Nickolson from the ISTM Secretariat. Enjoy reading the March 2012 issue of the ISTM NewsShare and don't forget to test your knowledge with the ISTM Crossword challenge! As always, we welcome contributions and suggestions from our Members.

- - Late Breaking News - -

We have recently learnt that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the USA are looking for a new Director of the Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria. This position is located in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, at the Center for Global Health.

Peter Leggat
Editor, ISTM NewsShare

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Secretary-Treasurer's Report

David Freedman

ISTM Renewals Coming in Strong

The ISTM membership year is based on a calendar year, and it is during the first quarter of each year that we see the majority of the membership renewals arrive. If you haven't yet renewed your ISTM membership, you will want to do so before the end of this month, for the grace period ends on 31 March, and those who have not yet renewed will no longer receive the ISTM Journal, participate in the list serve discussions, and their clinics will be deleted from the clinic directory.

Membership renewals have been steadily arriving and we have close to 75% of our members already renewing for 2012. We also are pleased to note the more than 250 new ISTM members who have already joined this year.

If you have any questions about the ISTM membership renewal process, please contact the ISTM Secretariat. They will be happy to assist.

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News from the Secretariat

Diane Nickolson

Members Make a Difference!

The ISTM is fortunate to be supported by the expertise of its many volunteer members. We would not be able to accomplish what we do without the collaborative efforts of our committees and groups. We acknowledge and greatly appreciate the contributions of the following volunteer members who support the ISTM and our many programs.

Continuing Professional Development Committee

• Chair: Phyllis Kozarsky, United States
• Richard Dawood, United Kingdom
• Jeff Goad, United States of America
• Peter Leggat, Australia
• Androula Pavli, Greece
• Gilles Poumerol, Switzerland
• Gail Rosselot, United States of America
• Philip Scappatura, Canada
• Eli Schwartz, Israel
• Hilary Simons, United Kingdom
• Robert Steffen, Switzerland

Examination Committee

• Chair: Kenneth Dardick, United States
• Co-Chair: Pierre Landry, Switzerland
• Jesse Alves, Brazil
• Paul Arguin, United States of America
• Brian Aw, Canada
• Buddha Basnyat, Nepal
• Philip E. Coyne Jr., United States of America
• Fabio Foti, Italy
• Jeff Goad, United States of America
• Martin Haditsch, Austria
• David Hamer, United States of America
• Mikio Kimura, Japan
• Sonny Lau, Australia
• Sue MacDonald, China
• Marc Robin, United States of America
• David Roque, United States of America
• Eli Schwartz, Israel
• David Shlim, United States of America
• Stephen Toovey, Switzerland
• Alfons van Gompel, Belgium
• Claire Wong, United Kingdom

Liaison Committee

• Chair: Robert Steffen, Switzerland
• WHO Liaison: Louis Loutan, Switzerland
• CDC Liaison: Phyllis Kozarsky, United States of America

Professional Education & Training Committee

• Chair: Mary-Louise Scully, United States of America
• Co-Chair: Marc Shaw, New Zealand
• Susan Anderson, United States of America
• Nina Bacaner, United States of America
• Elizabeth Barnett, United States of America
• Michele Barry, United States of America
• Frank Bia, United States of America
• I. Dale Carroll, United States of America
• Lin Chen, United States of America
• Vanessa Field, United Kingdom
• Philippe Gautret, France
• Suzanne Hall, United States of America
• Ian Heslop, Australia
• David R. Hill, United Kingdom
• Nancy Piper-Jenks, United States of America
• George C. Kassianos, United Kingdom
• Peter A. Leggat, Australia
• Sheila M. Mackell, United States of America
• Susan L.F. McLellan, United States of America
• Kazuo Miyamura, Japan
• Margot Muetsch, Switzerland
• Dalilah Restrepo, United States of America
• Gail Rosselot, United States of America
• Eli Schwartz, Israel
• Alec Stereff, Australia
• Jenny Visser, New Zealand
• Ursula Wiedermann, Austria

Publications Committee

• Chair: Joseph Torresi, Australia
• Co-Chair: Patricia Schlagenhauf, Switzerland
• Web Editor: Hans Dieter Nothdurft, Germany
• Editor: Journal of Travel Medicine, Eric Caumes, France
• Editor: NewsShare, Peter A. Leggat, Australia
• Steven Denny, United States of America
• Charles Ericsson, United States of America
• Alexandra Grieve, United Kingdom
• Karl Neumann, United States of America
• Philippe Parola, France
• Matthias Schmid, United Kingdom
• Robert Steffen, Switzerland
• Stephen Toovey, Switzerland

Research and Awards Committee

• Chair: David Hamer, United States of America
• Co-Chair, Martin Grobusch, Germany
• Chair, Travel Awards Subcommittee: Assunta Marcolongo, Canada
• Elizabeth Barnett, United States of America
• Karl Hess, United States of America
• Emily Jentes, United States of America
• Karin Leder, Australia
• Anne McCarthy, Canada
• Susan L.F. McLellan, United States of America
• Mark Riddle, United States of America
• Patricia Schlagenhauf, Switzerland
• Adrienne Willcox, United Kingdom

JTM Editorial Board

• Editor: Eric Caumes, France
• Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Charles D. Ericsson, United States of America
• Susan Anderson, United States of America
• Paul M. Arguin, United States of America
• Buddha Basnyat, Nepal
• Irmgard Bauer, Australia
• Ronald H. Behrens, United Kingdom
• Mads Buhl, Denmark
• Gerd Burchard, Germany
• Francesco Castelli, Italy
• Santanu Chatterjee, India
• Lin H. Chen, United States of America
• Bradley A. Connor, United States of America
• Alfons van Gompel, Belgium
• Brian Gushulak, Singapore
• Martin Haditsch, Austria
• David Hamer, United States of America
• Christoph Hatz, Switzerland
• David R. Hill, United Kingdom
• Mikio Kimura, Japan
• Herwig Kollaritsch, Austria
• Karin Leder, Australia
• Peter A. Leggat, Australia
• Rogelio Lopéz-Vélez, Spain
• Marc Mendelson, South Africa
• Hans D. Nothdurft, Germany
• Watcharapong Piyaphanee, Thailand
• Lars Rombo, Sweden
• Mary Ross, South Africa
• Eli Schwartz, Israel
• Marie-Louise Scully, United States of America
• Marc Shaw, New Zealand
• David R. Shlim, United States of America
• Kitty Smith, United Kingdom
• Annelies Wilder-Smith, Germany
• Rudy Zimmer, Canada

Thank you for all that you do for the ISTM and the travel medicine community.

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Travel Health and Vaccines: The Asia Pacific Perspective

Annelies Wilder-Smith

Featuring the most up-to-date information on travel medicine in the Asia Pacific region, the upcoming Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference 2012 (APTHC 2012) will be held in Singapore from 2-5 May 2012. In conjunction with the 5th Regional Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (RCISTM5 2012), the conference will provide an opportunity for networking, professional dialogue, and continuing education. Plenary sessions include: 'Traveling Superbugs', 'Dengue', 'Vaccines Past, Present and Future' and 'Travel Medicine in the Asia Pacific Region'. Many other symposia, workshops and high level debates covering fields such as emerging infectious diseases, preventive medicine, and primary health care will also be included.

Registration for the Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference in Singapore is only open until 23 April 2012. For more information about APTHC 2012 in conjunction with RCISTM5, visit www.apthc2012.org.

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CTH^® Examination Deadline Extended to 5 April 2012!

Kenneth Dardick

The Certificate in Travel Health^TM recognizes individual excellence in knowledge in the field of travel medicine, associated with pre-travel care and consultation. Travel medicine practitioners in the Asia Pacific region have the opportunity to take the CTH^® examination prior to the Asia Pacific Travel Health Conference being held in Singapore. The exam will be on Wednesday, 2 May 2012, from 12.00 noon until 17.15 in the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

As part of the ISTM's Travel Medicine Continuous Professional Development Program, this examination was developed in recognition of the critical need for travel medicine practitioners to maintain and increase their skills and knowledge and is one of the most recognized professional certifications in the field. For more details on how to register, please visit www.istm.org. The deadline to register for the CTH^® Exam is 5 April 2012!

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CISTM13 Update

Mary Wilson

Over 140 excellent proposals have been submitted to the CISTM13 Scientific Committee for their review. Using these ideas and proposals the Committee will identify material that is new, innovative, and important and of the highest scientific caliber, and identify speakers who have the expertise and experience to communicate this knowledge effectively. The committee will work to achieve a balance of topics to serve the varied interests and needs of the membership. The program will have a mix of plenaries, symposia, workshops, and debates - to allow attendees to select those sessions that fit their interests and level of expertise. The preliminary program will be developed by mid-May.

The Scientific Committee is being ably led by Chair Mary E. Wilson of the United States, and Co-Chair Leo G. Visser of The Netherlands. The 13th Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM13) will be held on 19-23 May 2013 in beautiful and historic Maastricht, The Netherlands.

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Webinars Now Added to the List of ISTM Continuing Education Resources

Lin Chen, Webinar Program Director

Lin Chen

The first of many future webinars has been announced by Dr. Lin Chen, ISTM Webinar Program Director. To be held Wednesday, 30 May 2012, the title of the hour long webinar is Preparing Your Patients for Mass Gatherings: Euro 2012 and the London Olympics. Dr. Katherine Smallwood, Technical Officer, Health and Security Interface, Global Alert and Response, World Health Organization (WHO) will be key speaker, and Dr. Robert Steffen will act as Moderator. Dr. Smallwood will provide a broad overview of the approach taken by WHO on health protection at mass gatherings. She will discuss some specific details on WHO's activities for the big events this year, including recommendations for preventing illness associated with travel this summer to EURO 2012 in Poland and Ukraine and to the Olympics in London, United Kingdom.

Travel medicine practitioners who have patients planning to attend these events or any mass gatherings as well as public health officials who may be involved with planning for mass gathering events, will find the information contained in this webinar informative and timely.

To register or for more information, please follow the link on the home page of the ISTM website at www.ISTM.org.

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North American Travel Medicine Review Course

Elizabeth D. Barnett

Held in San Francisco, USA the Review Course was delivered to 130 participants to rave reviews in late February of 2012. We were delighted to welcome participants from 11 countries, including Argentina, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Sweden, and the United States. ISTM Secretariat Members, Diane Nickolson and Daveen Capers staffed the course.

This year's course began each day with optional workshops on Challenging Pre-Travel Cases, Challenging Post-Travel Cases, Wilderness/Expedition Medicine, Principles of Epi and Biostats, and Travel Clinic Management and Resources. This was the first year the course had optional workshops, and they were all well attended and received.

The ISTM thanks the Course Faculty for their generous participation!

Elizabeth Barnett
Lin Chen
Charles Ericsson
Nancy Piper-Jenks
Jay Keystone
Anne McCarthy
Susan McClellan
Eric Weiss
Mary Wilson

Click here for a Photo Slideshow

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Over 60 Sessions Available in the Distance Learning Program of ISTM

In 2011 the ISTM established a Distance Learning Program to expand the reach of its educational offerings. Topics are relevant to all travel medicine practitioners, with both introductory and more advanced content. Offering both video with synchronized slides, and audio with synchronized slides, individual sessions range from 30 minutes to four hours.

The following are a few of the many titles currently available:

• Sessions for Special Needs or High Risk Travelers
  • The Pediatric Traveler
  • Preparation of Last Minute Travelers
  • Pregnant, Breast-Feeding and Pediatric Travelers
  • The Immunocompromised Traveler
  • The Traveler with Chronic Disease
• Illness Specific Sessions
  • Dengue: Into the Future
  • From Pruritus to Delusional Parasitosis
  • Malaria
  • State of the Art Treatment of Imported Parasitic Diseases
  • Travelers' Diarrhea (ABC)
  • Yellow Fever Risk: Location and Movement
  • Enteric Infection and Travelers' Diarrhea
• Destination Guides
  • Case Studies: Adventure Travel and High Altitude
  • Disaster Response: Haiti
  • Down Under: Oceania and Australasia
  • Ionizing Radiation: How to Advise Patients Travelling to Japan
  • South Africa
  • Travel Medicine in the Military

The modules can be ordered individually or with a volume discount, and they are available for viewing over the internet for six months after purchasing. For a list of available programs and more information please see the ISTM website at www.ISTM.org.

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The CIWEC Clinic 30th Anniversary Celebration and Conference

David Shlim

Prativa Pandey and David Shlim, past and future presidents of the ISTM, are hosting a one-day celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the CIWEC Clinic in Kathmandu, Nepal on 12 May 2012. The celebration follows the Asia-Pacific Travel Health Association meeting in Singapore, on May 2nd to 5th, 2012. Part of the festivities is a one-day educational conference that highlights the research that the CIWEC Clinic has accomplished in Nepal. Speakers include Prativa Pandey, David Shlim, Eli Schwartz, Robert Steffen, and Alan Magill. Topics include altitude illness, diarrhea, the history of Cyclospora (discovered in Nepal), typhoid and paratyphoid fever, and malaria on the subcontinent.

A gala celebration follows the educational conference.

The CIWEC Clinic is one of the few travel medicine clinics in the world that is known simply by its name. The clinic has helped define the causes and treatment of diarrhea in travelers, discovered Cyclospora, promoted altitude illness safety, studied the causes of death among trekkers, studied the use of rabies post-exposure prophylaxis in Nepal, defined the risks of typhoid and paratyphoid fever in Nepal, and many other accomplishments.

Since the clinic opened its doors in 1982, it has not been closed for one day, even though we have physically moved the clinic three times, and are now expanding the current clinic.

When the CIWEC Clinic opened in 1982, it soon became the world's first destination travel medicine clinic, and remains the world's busiest. Because it was the first clinic to concentrate the care of foreign travelers in one facility, it became possible to do research on the diseases that we found in travelers. The clinic has treated more than 45,000 cases of traveler's diarrhea.

All ISTM members are invited to our one-day conference and gala celebration. Although the conference will not be accredited for CME or CEU credits, the price is right: USD 7.50, which includes lunch. The party afterwards is free.

Come celebrate the accomplishments of the world's most famous little travel medicine clinic.

For information regarding the conference please contact David Shlim: drshlim@mac.com.

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Nurses Professional Group

Gail Rosselot

CE Initiative and Task Force

The NPG Council is happy to announce that the ISTM Executive Board at its February meeting accepted the NPG Continuing Education proposal. ISTM has now approved a policy to offer ANCC credits for future CISTMs starting with the Maastricht conference in 2013. Members of the NPG Council and CE Task Force will be working with the ISTM Secretariat to implement this policy in coming months. Additional volunteers for this effort are most welcome. If you would like to help, please email ISTM@ISTM.org.

Abstracts for Maastricht CISTM13

During the recent request for proposals for Maastricht, the NPG Council submitted six topics for plenaries, symposiums and workshops. Suggestions for these sessions came from our nurse members and included: the long-stay traveler, the immunocompromised traveler, shared challenges in travel medicine for nurses and pharmacists, refugee and migrant health-an overview for the travel health clinician, competencies in travel medicine, and maximizing the prevention benefit of the pre-travel consultation.

We know that individual nurses also submitted proposals and we thank everyone for their contributions to building a great program for the next CISTM.

Singapore

Lani Ramsey, NPG Vice Chair, provides this update:

“The NPG plans to have three members present at the Singapore Conference: Gail Rosselot, Briar Campbell and Lani Ramsey. The program will be a 90 minute session to welcome the nurses to the conference, introduce them to ISTM and NPG, and engage them in an interactive discussion on two important topics: New Developments in Rabies- an Australian Perspective and Japanese Encephalitis: A JEV (Jespect or Ixiaro) Case Study- The Kiwi Approach. The goal of these two clinical presentations is to promote discussions among nurses in the Asia Pacific region, learn of their experiences with rabies and JE, and better understand what their clinics offer to overseas travellers. This special Nurses Session will close with a review of the NPG member survey and an open discussion encouraging more nurses to join our society and interact with nurses the world over. “

NPG/PPG Liaison

In an effort to share information and increase collaboration between our two professional groups, NPG and PPG have established liaison positions on our steering councils. NPG welcomes Claudine Leuthold from Switzerland to the NPG Council. Claudine has been a long-standing member of ISTM and has made many important contributions to our field. We welcome her to our bimonthly meetings. We hope to soon report the start of a first collaboration project between our two professional groups.

Jacquie Brezowski, a member of the of the NPG, submitted this update:

In July of 2011, I was invited to be part of the International Outreach Task Force for ISTM. I was initially overwhelmed that I would be invited to participate as I felt I had minimal professional achievements compared to my colleagues on the task force. This was my first involvement on a committee for ISTM and I doubted my usefulness.

As we emailed each other over the ensuing months, it was interesting to learn of the ideas and concerns from the other members representing 9 different countries from South America, SE Asia, Europe and North America. There were many similarities even though we were geographically miles apart. Our final 3 day meeting was held in Munich and I was able to meet everyone for the first time.

Under the guidance of Robert Steffen, the committee members felt comfortable to discuss each other’s ideas openly, honestly and fairly and to agree upon a list of recommendations that will be presented to the Executive Board in the near future.

I learned that everyone has something to contribute even myself who has never written a book, never published a research article and am not a director of any department. I am a nurse who counsels clients in a travel clinic in Canada and my contributions were respectfully and fairly discussed by those who have done all of the above. I was the only one who could represent the point of view of the nurse working in a travel clinic. It was a great introduction into becoming a contributing member of ISTM.

I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to work with this interesting, impressive and vibrant group for a society that I believe is vitally important. I feel humbled and proud to be part of the ISTM.

On the Web

The quarterly update of the NPG web page has been completed at www.ISTM.org. It features a new nurse profile of Annemarie de Gouw from the Netherlands as well NPG Steering Council goals for the next 3 months:

• Continue to Support Implementation of the CE Accreditation Policy
• Review NPG Governance: Steering Council Membership, Council Officers, and Election Cycle
• Collaborate with the Pharmacy Professional Group
• Contribute to Maastricht Planning

Please Note: Minutes from all the NPG Council meetings since August 2011 are now posted on the NPG site.

Correction: In the last issue, we inadvertently left out the name of Hilary Simons as a nurse on the Scientific Committee for the Maastricht conference. We appreciate all the work Hilary does for travel health and ISTM. Our sincere apologies.

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Pharmacist Professional Group: Participating at the American Pharmacists Association Annual Meeting

Jeff Goad

ISTM will have a booth in the exposition half of the 160th annual meeting of the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) in New Orleans. Staffing the booth will be Jeff Goad, PPG Chair and Karl Hess, PPG Council Member, along wth Diane Nickolson and Kathy Smith of the ISTM Secretariat. The APhA is the largest pharmacists association in the United States with more than 60,000 members. This will mark the first time that ISTM has exhibited at this meeting. The goal will be to educate and recruit pharmacist members for ISTM with an eye toward creating synergy between these two organizations. Dr. Goad will co-present a four hour session on introductory Travel Medicine for pharmacists and a two hour update on immunizations during the APhA meeting.

As of January 2012, the PPG had 136 members and growing! The PPG is now well represented within the ISTM committee structure with Past Chair Larry Goodyer on the CISTM Scientific Committee, Chair Jeff Goad on the CTH^® Continuous Professional Development Committee and Leadership Council member Karl Hess on the Research and Awards Committee. We are also continuing our efforts to promote pharmacists as Travel Health and immunization providers internationally through documentation in our online bibliography, presentations and research surveys.

If there are issues you think the PPG should be working on, please email Jeff Goad at goad@usc.edu!

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Destination Communities Support Interest Group

Garth Brink

Initiated contacts

Recent contact has been made with the Paediatric Interest Group and the Psychological Health of Travellers Interest Group to explore possible collaboration on overlapping themes.

The group has also initiated contacts with other organisations (International Centre for Responsible Tourism, ECPAT, Global Alliance for Rabies Control) for possible future cooperation on relevant topics.

The Responsible Traveller

The bookmark, currently available to members as a member benefit, will be made available to the travelling public, and airline and travel agency organisations will be approached for dissemination.

Sex Tourism

The group has now finalised the long-awaited document on Sex Tourism which is currently available on the DCSIG website. A corresponding bookmark has been designed and its release will be advertised in time.

APTHC2012 Singapore, 2-5 May

The Symposium "How to not MES it up: Medical Tourism, Ecotourism and Sex Tourism," proposed by the DCSIG, is scheduled for Thursday, 3 May, 4pm, with two council members as invited speakers. The results of last year's member survey will be presented as a poster at the same conference.

A general meeting for all DCSIG members, and those interested in joining, will be arranged. Venue and date/time still to be finalised. Please bring along any ideas or suggestions you wish to share at this meeting.

NECTM Dublin, 6-8 June

Two abstracts for oral presentations have been submitted by council members on behalf of the DCSIG.

SASTM2012 Johannesburg , 13-16 September

Several council members will be presenting at the South African Society of Travel Medicine meeting. More details will be available closer to the event. For further details visit: www.sastm.org.za.

CISTM13 Maastricht, 19-23 May

A symposium proposal has been submitted on behalf of the DCSIG. We welcome comments, suggestions and feedback, not only from our IG- members but from the ISTM membership.

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Carrying Medicines Across International Boarders

Larry Goodyer

As a pharmacist I have an interest in the problems travellers encounter when carrying medicines for personal use across international borders. There is very little research performed on this subject though I know from experience it is a matter of concern to Travellers and Health Professionals. It does sometimes lead to a range of problems at international boarders including arrest and imprisonment.

In nearly all cases the type of medication involved can be broadly defined as 'narcotic' or psychotropic' and the International and Narcotics Control Board (INCB) has guidelines to countries concerning the legislation they should implement regarding travellers being treated with a recognised controlled drug www.incb.org/incb/guidelines_travellers.html. Apart from this some countries also have lists of medications they consider to be "medicines of abuse" that restricts whether they can be carried into the country.

In most cases provided medicines are kept reasonably well packaged in quantities obviously for personal use, usually about one months supply, there are no problems. It is always a good idea to carry a doctor letter or original prescription for those drugs defined as narcotic or psychotropic, bearing in mind that in a few countries they may be totally banned. However from time to time there are anecdotal reports of travelers who experience problems. For instance there was some discussion a while ago on the ISTM ListServe concerning travellers who were carrying sedating antihistamines in Africa.

I am currently working on a project gathering data to look at the incidence of where travellers have encountered such problems. I would very much like to hear from any ISTM member who has encountered such reports from a traveller attending their clinics. This does not need to be substantiated in any way and can be totally anecdotal. All I would need is the country, name of drug and what problem they encountered e.g. confiscated /detained /fined etc. Of course please do not send any personal details relating to the traveler. If you would like to share such information with me then I can be emailed directly on lgoodyer@dmu.ac.uk.

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ISTM Crossword Puzzle

Pests from Around the World

Test your knowledge of travel medicine issues: Can you complete the puzzle without sneaking a peak at the answers?

- - - - - - - - Click here for the key (it will open in a new browser window) - - - - - - - -