[Diarrhea and fever after vacation in the south. Specific to tropics only in every 5th patient].

Post-travel medicine is mainly European medicine: Some 80% of the diseases are ubiquitous in nature, and only 20% tropics-specific. The leading symptoms are diarrhoea (68%), fever (20%) and skin conditions (9%), sometimes in combination. The travel history is of decisive importance for the diagnosis. Quite simple questions aimed at identifying the start of the illness, symptoms, destination, travel class and vaccinations can be useful for differentiation purposes. For the acute diagnosis, such aids as urine stick test, centrifuge, microscope, a range of stains, and a stool test for occult blood suffice. The most common serious travel-specific diseases include malaria, falciparum > tertian, dengue fever, hepatitis, and rickettsiosis. When falciparum malaria is suspected ("flu without a runny nose", and a visit to a tropical country), the patients must be hospitalized. Emergency diagnosis is done with a blood smear, "thick drop", and rapid malaria test.