Krause E, Grundmann H, Hatz C
Medical Department, Swiss Tropical Institute, Basel, Switzerland.
J Travel Med. 1999 Sep;6(3):163-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1708-8305.1999.tb00854.x.
While the risk of acquiring rabies in Europe is low, there have been a number of reports on cases of human rabies "imported" from abroad in recent years. Few studies have been conducted concerning pretravel advice for international travelers about the risk of rabies.
One-hundred and fifty German and 150 Swiss general practitioners (GPs) who give pretravel advice were interviewed to assess their awareness of the risk of rabies for travelers, and of the relevant preventive measures, using a pretested telephone interview followed by a written questionnaire with a multiple choice list. GPs were asked specifically about pretravel health advice for journeys to Thailand and Kenya.
During the telephone interview a majority (76%) of the 300 GPs recommended "nothing" as a preventive measure against rabies for travelers. One or two important preventive measures were mentioned by only a few GPs. No major differences were detected between the German and the Swiss groups concerning their recommendations for rabies prevention. The 119 German and 121 Swiss GPs who returned the completed questionnaire said they would recommend the three important preventive measures in the future significantly more often than they had recommended them to their clients in the past.
The risk of rabies in travelers to tropical countries appears to be neglected in pretravel advice provided by Swiss and German GPs. The recommendations on travel advice published in the Swiss Bulletin of the Federal Office of Public Health (BFOPH) and in the "Deutsches Arzteblatt" should be extended to "other specific health risks." In Switzerland this has now been done.
虽然在欧洲感染狂犬病的风险较低，但近年来有许多关于从国外“输入”的人类狂犬病病例的报告。关于为国际旅行者提供的有关狂犬病风险的旅行前建议的研究很少。
对150名提供旅行前建议的德国全科医生（GP）和150名瑞士全科医生进行了访谈，通过预先测试的电话访谈，随后是带有多项选择列表的书面问卷，来评估他们对旅行者狂犬病风险以及相关预防措施的认识。特别询问了全科医生关于前往泰国和肯尼亚旅行的旅行前健康建议。
在电话访谈中，300名全科医生中的大多数（76%）建议旅行者“无需采取任何措施”作为预防狂犬病的措施。只有少数全科医生提到了一两项重要的预防措施。在狂犬病预防建议方面，德国组和瑞士组之间未发现重大差异。119名返回完整问卷的德国全科医生和121名瑞士全科医生表示，他们未来会比过去更频繁地向客户推荐三项重要的预防措施。
瑞士和德国全科医生提供的旅行前建议似乎忽视了前往热带国家旅行者的狂犬病风险。瑞士联邦公共卫生办公室（BFOPH）公报和《德国医学杂志》上发表的旅行建议应扩展到“其他特定健康风险”。在瑞士，现在已经这样做了。
