Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2022
This issue of the journal marks the introduction of a new column “Emporiatrics”: the study of diseases in travelers. The editorial board considers this an important aspect of the expanding role of the physician epidemiologist and the infection control practitioner. We plan to put the common issues into a perspective that will be useful for those who are frequently asked questions about the prevention and control of illness in travelers. We hope this will fill the current void and we invite your response in letters to the editor.
How do you envision your ideal vacation? Relaxing on a sunny beach to watch the sun sparkle on the water? Treading ancient streets of living history? Hiking peacefully over hill and dale? Or are you more adventurous; the kind of person who would consider Indiana Jones an ideal traveling companion? The siren call of travel draws us and our patients to exotic places filled with excitement-and disease. Indeed, many of the epidemics that first gave birth to epidemiology are still in full swing in developing countries. To protect the traveler from illness and to minimize the importation of serious diseases, emporiatrics (from the Greek: emporos [one who goes on shipboard as a passenger] and iatrke [medicine]) has been developed.