Travel Medicine Services In Salem, VA

Helping You Vacation Safely

Planning a trip involves careful planning and research. Traveling is exciting, but getting sick can ruin your vacation. Part of your preparation—especially if you’re traveling internationally—should be scheduling a travel medicine appointment with Salem Family Medicine. When it comes to travel medicine, we make sure that you and your family are up-to-date on your routine and vaccines. We can provide general advice about staying healthy while you travel and ensure that you have the resources you need to prevent malaria, travelers’ diarrhea, altitude sickness and motion sickness.

Our team also provides individualized and specialized travel services to patients with special travel health needs, including those with infants and young children and travelers who are immunocompromised, disabled or pregnant. If you are preparing to work, live or travel overseas for a prolonged period of time, we can also help make sure you have access to the medication or prescriptions you need.

Vaccines For Travelers

Vaccines can protect you from contracting diseases that you can be exposed to while traveling. Make sure to schedule your travel medicine appointment well in advance of your international trip—some immunizations require multiple injections or take a couple of weeks to become effective. Common diseases outside of the U.S. include:

  • Cholera

  • Hepatitis A

  • Japanese encephalitis

  • Meningococcal meningitis

  • Rabies

  • Tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis

  • Typhoid

  • Yellow fever

If your trip requires more specialized vaccines, your provider at Salem Family Medicine can refer you to a clinic, where you will receive all necessary immunizations.

What Is Malaria?

There are about 2,000 annual cases of malaria reported in the U.S. every year, according to the CDC. The overwhelming majority of these cases are from Americans who traveled to countries where malaria is present. Malaria is a serious and sometimes deadly disease that is transmitted from mosquitoes to humans. Symptoms of malaria include high fever, chills and flu-like symptoms. Malaria transmission is most prevalent in tropical and subtropical countries, including:

  • West Africa

  • South Asia

  • Southeast Asia

  • The Pacific Islands

  • Central America

  • Northern South America

Preventing Malaria While Traveling

Travelers who are at high risk of developing malaria while traveling should consider taking antimalarial medication before their trip or carrying a full treatment course of malaria medicines with them. This way, travelers are either already protected from the disease or have immediate access to the proper medication if they are diagnosed while abroad. There are several types of medication for malaria, and we will help you select the best one for you based on the country you are visiting, your health history and other factors.

If you’re traveling to a country where malaria is present, you should take every measure to avoid mosquito bites—even if you are carrying antimalarial medicine. Prevention methods include:

  • Wearing clothing that completely covers your skin

  • Limiting time outside between dusk and dawn, when mosquitoes are most present

  • Applying bug spray to your skin and clothes

  • Using insecticide-treated bed nets

Malaria Treatment Abroad And At Home

Malaria is serious and can be fatal, and if symptoms occur, patients should seek immediate medical attention. Symptoms typically become apparent within a couple of days, but exposed patients can develop malaria for up to one year after returning home. There are some forms of malaria that can occur more than once.

Traveler’s Diarrhea

Another common travel medicine concern is traveler’s diarrhea. Drinking contaminated food and water while traveling abroad can result in diarrhea that is either bacterial or viral, commonly called traveler’s diarrhea. According to the CDC, about 30% to 70% of travelers experience the condition, with most cases occurring in younger travelers. When you visit a place where the climate or sanitation is different from where you live, you have an increased risk of developing this.

High-risk areas include:

  • Central America

  • South America

  • Mexico

  • Africa

  • South Asia and Southeast Asia

Preventing Traveler’s Diarrhea

To prevent traveler’s diarrhea while traveling internationally, drink bottled water and be careful what you eat, if you are able to. Avoid raw or unpasteurized foods and try to wash your hands before eating. However, some factors are simply outside of the traveler’s control, such as local hygiene and refrigeration use.

For most people, traveler’s diarrhea is not serious and will go away on its own within a few days. If caused by certain bacteria or parasites, it may last longer and you may need prescription medications to help you get better, which you can take with you on your trip. It can cause severe dehydration, and patients with diarrhea should try to drink as much non-contaminated water as possible.

What Is Altitude Sickness?

Altitude sickness—also known as mountain sickness—occurs when a person rapidly ascends to high altitudes, normally above 8,000 feet. Symptoms of altitude sickness can include headaches, dizziness, shortness of breath, loss of appetite and trouble sleeping. Altitude sickness can also become chronic.

  • Acute mountain sickness (AMS) is the acute form of altitude sickness. Symptoms include dizziness, headache, muscle aches and nausea.

  • High-altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE) is a buildup of fluid in the lungs that can be dangerous and even life-threatening.

  • High-altitude cerebral edema (HACE) is the rarest and most severe form of mountain sickness. Patients with HACE experience swelling and fluid in the brain.

Preventing Altitude Sickness

The best way to avoid altitude sickness is to gradually ascend to your final destination. This can help your body adjust to lower oxygen levels. Other ways to prevent mountain sickness include:

  • Avoiding alcohol and strenuous activities for at least two days when arriving at an altitude of 8,000 ft or higher

  • Sleeping at a lower elevation

  • Receiving medicine from your doctor that can help mild symptoms

When To Seek Medical Attention

If you develop a headache and at least one other symptom within a day or two of changing your elevation, you might have altitude sickness. Patients with mild symptoms may adjust to their current altitude within a few days. If your symptoms don’t go away in a couple of days or get worse, get to a lower elevation and seek medical help.

Preventing and Treating Motion Sickness

Motion sickness is a common problem when traveling by car, train, airplane and especially by boat. It usually starts suddenly, with a queasy feeling that turns into dizziness, nausea and vomiting.

Sometimes you can avoid motion sickness by sitting in the front seat of a car, the forward cars of a train, on the upper deck of a boat or over the wing of a plane. People who get motion sickness should also avoid reading or looking at their phone or tablet in the vehicle, which makes symptoms worse. If you do feel like you are getting motion sickness, close your eyes or focus on the horizon. Staying hydrated and stimulating your other senses with aromatherapy or by eating candy can also help.

Though medications can be used to prevent or treat motion sickness, many of them have side effects of sleepiness, which can be incompatible with traveling. If you think you need medicine for motion sickness, call us at (540) 375-2686 or schedule an appointment with us online.