routine vaccination for travelers from emerging countries: epidemiological profile of a public travel medicine clinic in sao paulo/brazil

Introduction: emerging countries have increased their presence in international travel (46.8% of travels). pre- and post-travel consultations may provide insights about travelers’ health. methods: a retrospective descriptive analysis of the medical data of all travelers assisted at ambulatório dos viajantes, a free public health clinic for travelers in são paulo, brazil, from january to december 2016 was performed. the patients were profiled based on post-travel consultation data and screened by gender, age according to the united nations working-age population distribution (0-14 years, children; 15-24 years, youths; 25-65 years, working age; over 65 years, older persons), travel destination, and diseases that affected travelers. results: in 2016 (n=280 appointments), 93.92% of clients received some type of vaccine (regular or booster dose). post-travel consultations (n=27; 9.64%) were predominantly male (62.96% of appointments) and comprised cases of malaria (44.4%; 6 positive cases of plasmodium falciparum, 4 positive cases of plasmodium vivax, and 2 unclassified), fever (7.4%), age - acute gastroenteritis (7.4%), hepatitis a (3.7%), nausea (3.7%), insect bite (3.7%), abdominal pain (3.7%), arthralgia (3.7%), vaginal discharge (3.7%), and cases under investigation (18.5%). brazilian travelers presented the same incidence of post-travel counseling as developed countries’ travel medicine clinics (~9%). conclusion: immunization in pre-travel counseling may reduce the importation of preventable infectious diseases and increase brazilians’ traveler vaccine coverage, a current concern in the country.