Jungle Fever: The Exotic Disease Detectives (BBC)
By Anna Lacey
BBC Health Check
When a patient goes to the doctor, most expect to come out with a diagnosis. But what if your disease is a mystery? Then it's time to call in the exotic disease detectives.
"I travelled to Peru last summer and about a month afterwards noticed what looked like a large boil," says Bob Gilbert, who lives in east London.
"It was continuously scabbing over. I couldn't understand it."
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Prof David Lalloo, a tropical disease expert at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, says that in up to 80% of cases people travelling to see family - rather than holiday-makers - are most at risk of contracting malaria.
"People visiting friends and relatives often don't get travel advice because they don't see it as exotic travel, even though they tend to go to environments that are more risky than those chosen by the average traveller," he says.
"They can also assume that they have immunity to diseases such as malaria, especially if they lived abroad when they were younger. But people start to lose that immunity within two to three years, meaning they are no more protected than a child."
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-25934249
Not exactly LBN, but an interesting (possibly useful for some) read.