Practitioners caring for immigrant patients should be made aware of the significant burden of travel-related illnesses in these communities, especially in children. They should remain up to date on recommended preventive measures for travelers, and know when to refer the more complex cases to specialized travel health clinics. For example, health professionals need to make sure that their patients’ routine vaccinations are complete, and those who prescribe malaria chemoprophylaxis should receive adequate training to avoid medication errors. The increasing Selleckchem AG 14699 resistance of Salmonella typhi to antibiotics points to the need of a more effective and targeted promotion of typhoid

fever vaccination among VFRs. It is worth mentioning that the benefits of prevention among VFRs extend beyond immigrant communities. For example, hepatitis A vaccination of young VFRs could help prevent outbreaks in day-care centers, which are attended by more than two-thirds of Quebec children between the ages

of 6 mo and 5 y.22 At the government level, a health information package on routine vaccinations and other recommended preventive measures before a person’s return trip to their country of origin should be provided to new immigrants. Moreover, recent initiatives in Quebec’s Provincial Selleckchem MLN0128 Health Insurance provisions, such as the reimbursement of anti-malarial drugs and the use of the combined hepatitis A and B vaccine in the school-based vaccination program, could

lower the burden of these diseases among young VFRs in coming years. The data sources can bias some of our estimates. Notifiable diseases are often under-diagnosed and under-reported.23–26 Epidemiological questionnaires are not uniform between public health departments, thus resulting in missing information, particularly on the trip purpose and pre-travel consultation. Statistics Canada data estimate the number of trips, and not the number of travelers. This can result in an overestimation in the number of travelers, second because one can make several trips a year. However, this may be less significant for VFRs, since they typically return to their country of origin with their children during summer holidays. Statistics show that VFRs travel back to Quebec mainly in the third quarter (33%),5 which is consistent with our results. Our study examined all reported cases of malaria, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever among Quebec travelers between 2004 and 2007, providing a complete picture of the epidemiologic situation. Since we used a similar methodology to the one used in 2000 to 2002, one can compare changes over time and identify the groups that require more preventive work.7 Typhoid fever data should be interpreted with caution because of their small numbers, although our results are consistent with other studies.7,8,27 It would be interesting to examine the pre-travel consultation determinants among VFRs in a future study.