Travel health vaccinations
Many people now travel overseas for business and pleasure. Often these trips include countries where food and hygiene standards are not as high as at home. It is natural that intending travellers should worry that they might catch something while they are away, putting their health at risk and perhaps spoiling a much needed holiday.
Vaccination can protect travellers against some diseases, such as hepatitis and yellow fever. But for some infections vaccination has been shown to have little, if any, value. A good example of this is cholera, a disease which usually causes severe diarrhoea. For more than 20 years the World Health Organization has advised that cholera vaccination is not necessary for travel to any part of the world.
The risk of catching cholera is estimated at one or 2 for every one million overseas trips.
Last Reviewed: 27 May 2002
