Newswise — Perhaps your vision of being footloose and fancy-free does not include having a baby or two along for the ride. Still, many young couples are packing up their kindergartners or even younger children and heading off to see the world for as long as a year at a time. Dr. Christopher Sanford, co-director of the University of Washington Medical Center Travel Clinic at Hall Health Center on the Seattle campus, took his son along on a trip to Peru, where the little guy celebrated his first birthday. Sanford thinks travel, even for the very young, can help build family ties and broaden children's understanding of the rest of the world.
"Even though as a physician I focus on travelers' health, the bottom line is that I feel that for almost every child, the benefit of travel well outweighs the potential risk," Sanford says.
That advice doesn't mean you should just pack up a bunch of disposable diapers and a binkie and go. Sanford recommends a visit to a travel doctor first, once you've decided on the destination and how long you'll be gone.
"There are lists of travel doctors available at Web sites like those run by organizations like the International Society of Travel Medicine, at istm.org," Sanford says. "These sites have lists of clinicians throughout the U.S. and there are a lot of topics for your discussion with the travel doctor you choose."
The first thing on your list should be standard immunizations for the entire family.
"A number of ailments that are extremely rare in the U.S. are common abroad," Sanford says. "For example, measles is common all over Africa and elsewhere. While we might see a total of about 90 cases a year in this country, in the rest of the world in 1995 there were 44 million cases, resulting in about 1.1 million deaths."
Next on your list should be the more exotic vaccinations, including what Sanford views as the most important one, hepatitis A. He says this is by far the most common vaccine-preventable disease of travelers, for both children and adults.
"Even though it's a minor ailment in children, it is actually quite dangerous to adults," Sanford says. "The two-shot series should provide protection for at least 20 years. Depending on your itinerary and activities, you may need other vaccines as well, such as typhoid fever,yellow fever, and others."
Malaria in particular is expanding its grip on the world. Cases are being seen in urban areas now and in more countries. It's fairly common in returning travelers, too, with about 35,000 Europeans and Americans getting malaria every year.
"The very worst kind of malaria, falciparum, can progress from mild symptoms to death within 24 hours," Sanford says. "In an endemic area, everyone, regardless of age should be on medication that prevents malaria. A travel doctor can prescribe the appropriate medication."
Insect-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever can also be fought using insect repellent, although repellents like DEET are no substitute for anti-malarial drugs. DEET is regarded as safe for children.
"If you compare the risks associated with DEET to the risks of insect-borne diseases like malaria, dengue fever and others, DEET definitely should be used on kids in malarial areas, but in lower concentrations than in the repellants used by adults," Sanford says. "The other things that help are permethrin, applied to clothing, and sleeping under a mosquito net."
Your visit to the travel doctor should also include some food safety information, as well as guidance on how to avoid the biggest threat to children overseas, traffic accidents. Also, if your child has asthma, talk to the doctor about taking along some stand-by medications, since many third-world countries have high levels of air pollution.
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