[Consensus paper treatment of acute traveler's diarrhea. Practice recommendation for travel advice].

Background: In times of mass tourism, traveler's diarrhea is one of the most common health problems of long-distance travel. Globally, some 40 million cases occur annually. Travellers to risk areas should therefore be comprehensively advised beforehand, as to what action to take in case of an acute traveler's diarrhea and what drugs to add to their first-aid kit.

Tick-borne encephalitis: a disease neglected by travel medicine.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is a vector-borne disease that is primarily transmitted to humans by infected ticks and causes infection of the central nervous system. Clinical presentations range from meningitis to encephalitis with or without myelitis, and infection may result in death or long-term neurological sequelae. TBE is endemic in regions of at least 27 European as well as in some Asian countries.

Dengue virus infection in a traveller returning from Croatia to Germany.

Dengue virus (DENV) is endemic in south-east Asia and Central to South America. In August 2010, a DENV infection was diagnosed in a German traveller returning from a trip to Croatia in south-east Europe. The patient presented with fever and other typical symptoms of DENV-infection.

Management of snake bites in the tropics - based on the example of Papua New Guinea.

Snake bites by venomous snakes are a widely neglected topic despite the fact that they may cause severe tissue damages and lead to life threatening situations resulting in death mostly due to the lack of adequate medical help. Papua New Guinea hosts one of the most venomous snakes worldwide - the taipan. Medical facilities are limited, the one and only real hospital being located in Port Moresby.

[The first case of anisakiasis acquired in Austria].

Anisakiasis is caused by a fish parasite of the Nematode family. This kind of rare helminthozoonosis can mainly be found in countries where consumption of raw fish is traditionally high like Japan, the Netherlands, Pacific Islands, South Europe, Scandinavia, USA, and Canada. Man is the wrong hoste.

[Medical clearance for missions abroad (EEU): definitions, recommendations for use and performance].

Standards for medical clearance for private or business missions abroad are--at least in the German speaking countries--not clearly defined and mostly derived from the old terminus "Tropentauglichkeit" which means fit for mission in the tropics. The authors now define a new standard, called "Entsendungstauglichkeitsuntersuchung" which means clearance of fitness for all types of missions abroad, independent of distinct climatic zones. To meet the inhomogenous requirements of different institutions and different types of missions the medical examination proposed follows a modular structure to optimize economic and medical use of resources.

Quality and reliability of current malaria diagnostic methods.

Malaria is a life threatening disease with a major impact on global health. The WHO declared an early diagnosis as one of the most important steps to fight the disease. The quality and the reliability of test results depend on the diagnostic tools used.

Rotavirus vaccines: considerations for successful implementation in Europe.

A group of European experts in infectious diseases and vaccinology has met on several occasions to assess the rationale for universal vaccination against rotavirus infection of infants in Europe. On the basis of the available data, we concluded that vaccination was the best approach to prevent severe rotavirus gastroenteritis, and that European countries should consider implementing rotavirus vaccination in their routine immunisation programmes. The main barrier to the implementation of rotavirus vaccination in Europe is a general lack of awareness of stakeholders, policymakers, health-care professionals, and parents about rotavirus disease and the advantages of vaccination.

[New vaccines for travelers].

The title "new vaccines" allows different approaches, such as the first option to vaccinate against a specific disease, new compositions and new ways of the application of vaccines, new target groups and indications, new combinations of compounds already on the market or new ways to trigger defense mechanisms. This article is focused on products that were recently launched in Austria: vaccines providing combined protection against hepatitis A and typhoid fever, a vaccine against cholera and ETEC (enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli) (in comparison to another cholera vaccine), vaccines against Japanese encephalitis and a conjugated vaccine against meningococcal disease (in comparison to a polysaccharide vaccine), respectively.

[Flying fitness of patients with infections].

To certify fitness for (international) air flights one must differentiate between target groups, i.e. pilots, cabin crew and passengers and the stage of infection, i.

Vibrio cholerae non-O1 septicaemia in a patient with liver cirrhosis and Billroth-II-gastrectomy.

This report deals with the first diagnosed case of Vibrio cholerae non-O1 septicaemia in Austria. After a vacation in Tunisia, a 51-year-old male patient with liver cirrhosis and Billroth-II-gastrectomy was admitted to hospital because of abdominal pain, growing ascites, and jaundice. Four days later, the patient developed a single peak of high fever (39.

Antibiotic susceptibility of pneumococci isolated in Austria over a four-year period.

The antibiotic susceptibility of pneumococci isolated from clinical specimens from 1991 through 1994 was investigated. Of 305 strains tested by the agar dilution method, 16 (5.2%) were resistant to penicillin (MICs > or = 0.

Yersinia enterocolitica septicemia in autologous blood transfusion.

Background: Increasingly, autologous blood transfusions are used in elective surgical procedures to avoid the risk of infection due to allogeneic blood transfusion.

Case Report: A 64-year-old patient had to undergo the implantation of a total right hip endoprosthesis. During the transfusion of 1 unit of autologous packed red cells, the patient experienced high temperature and shock, which necessitated his observation in the intensive care unit for several days.

The germ-spectrum problem and antibiotic-resistance in Bida and Minna hospitals--Nigeria.

In the present paper the occurrence of different species of Pseudomonas, of Acinetobacter calcoaceticum var. anitratum and Aeromonas hydrophila in hospitals is described. The possible human pathogenic significance is discussed.