Travel risks: How to help parents protect infants and young children

Ambika Mathur, Deepak Kamat

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

Children are at greater risk than adults for many travel-related problems, such as barotitis and barotrauma associated with flying, cold and heat injury, drowning, and infection with geohelminths. Most of these problems can be avoided with appropriate measures. To prevent insect-borne diseases, advise parents to apply permethrin to their children's clothing before the trip and apply slow-release DEET (30% to 35% concentration) to their skin every 24 hours. Infection with ground-dwelling parasites can be avoided by wearing protective footwear. At high altitudes, infants and children may experience acute mountain sickness. Acetozolamide (5 mg/kg/d, divided bid or tid) is an effective prophylactic however, it is contraindicated in patients with sulfa allergy. Some preventive measures that are effective in adults may not be appropriate for children; for example, several medications used to control motion sickness are ineffective and associated with significant side effects in children.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)900-904
Number of pages5
JournalConsultant
Volume45
Issue number8
StatePublished - Jul 2005
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Parasitic infestation
  • Travel medicine

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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