Sexually Transmitted Infections Acquired During Travel

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have been recognized as a problem among some people who travel, but broad-based analyses are scant. Investigators have now used GeoSentinel, a global sentinel surveillance network funded by the International Society for Travel Medicine, to characterize STIs among 112,180 ill travelers who visited GeoSentinel clinics worldwide between June 1996 and November 2010.

Of the cohort, 974 people (0.9%) were diagnosed with STIs. STI morbidity per 1000 travelers was 6.6 for people seen in clinic after the travel ended, 10.2 for people who visited clinics while traveling, and 16.8 among immigrants to a new country of residence. The types of STIs varied widely, but the two most common were nongonococcal or unspecif…