Australian residents returning home from their summer holidays in developing countries sometimes bring back some unwanted baggage — not only trinkets bought in the local market that fall apart on their first wear, but also infectious diseases.
The range of possible infections is wide and returned travellers can present with various symptoms, but one of the most common presentations is diarrhoea.
The classic case
Investigating travellers returning with diarrhoea was the subject of a BMJ article written by myself and infectious disease specialist Dr Adrienne Torda, from Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, as part of a series on rational testing.1
Our case scenario was that of a 21-year-old student just returned from a three-week trip in India. The student had a five-day...
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