A New Frontier- Infection Tracking in Travellers (ITIT): The First 500 participants
Poster presentation
Event details
18th Conference of the International Society of Travel Medicine (CISTM18)
May 12th, 2023
10:30-11:15 EEST
Congress Center Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Poster
Overview
A New Frontier- Infection Tracking in Travellers (ITIT): The First 500 participants
N. Hedrich1,a, T. Lovey1,a, J. Bernhard2, A. de Frey3, P. Gautret4, M.P. Grobusch5, The ITIT Global Network6, P. Schlagenhauf1,7
a Joint first author
1 University of Zurich, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Zurich, Switzerland
2 Charité-Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Charité Center for Global Health, Institute of International Health, Berlin, Germany
3 University of Witwatersrand, South African Society of Travel Medicine, Johannesburg, South Africa
4 IHU - Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France
5 Center for Tropical Medicine and Travel Medicine, Department of Infectious Diseases, Division of Internal Medicine, AMC, Amsterdam, Netherlands
6 U. Blanke, V. D’Acremont, G. Epéron, A. Filali, E. Kuenzli, A. Lindner, C. Popescu
7 WHO Collaborating Centre for Travellers’ Health, Department of Global and Public Health, MilMedBiol Competence Centre, Zürich, Switzerland
1 University of Zürich, Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Prevention Institute, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zürich Switzerland
2 WHO Collaborating Centre for Travellers’ Health, Department of Global and Public Health, MilMedBiol Competence Centre, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zürich, Switzerland On behalf of the ITIT Global Network
Topic: COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Background: Current traveller health surveillance is top-down and captures only a small fraction of disease cases. Mobile-based surveillance offers the opportunity to capture additional disease reports in real time, complementing and enhancing the existing health system.
Objective: We aimed to evaluate patterns of illness in travelers using self-reported symptom information through a mobile-app based system.
Method: This study uses a novel mobile application called Infection Tracking in Travellers (ITIT) that records travel-related symptoms with associated geolocation and weather data. Participant recruitment was conducted in travel clinics across Europe beginning in December 2021 and is currently ongoing. Data from the app were used to examine travel and illness patterns and link them to location and weather/climate information to create profiles of travellers and examine illness hotspots.
Results: 396 participants were recruited until January 2023, with an average age of 38 years old (18 to 88 years old), and an average travel duration of 22 days. The majority of participants were travelling for leisure/tourism (61.9%), followed by visiting friends and relatives (18.2%) and business travel (14.4%). Every UN global subregion was visited by at least one traveller, most commonly Western Europe, followed by Southern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. A total of 2352 daily symptom questionnaires were completed, 9.7% of which had reported symptoms. The most commonly reported symptoms were gastrointestinal (n=115), followed by respiratory (n=102). Symptom type, location, and severity was visualized using maps to see hotspots of infection.
Conclusion: ITIT is a valuable tool to examine patterns of infection on travellers, and can complement existing surveillance systems with its innovative bottom-up, real-time approach.