Blog
QLD Schoolies flirting with health hazards offshore
November 11th, 2013Media Release 12 Nov 2013 Scores of Queensland teenagers celebrating ‘Schoolies Week’ (November 16-23) offshore are oblivious to potentially fatal health hazards, according to leading travel health pioneer, Dr Deb Mills. The Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) estimates 48,500 students will graduate from Queensland high schools this year, many of whom will celebrate the milestone at […]
Q fever
November 7th, 2013Q fever is an infectious disease which was discovered in 1937 by Dr Edward Derrick, a pathologist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital after an outbreak of febrile illness in Queensland abattoir workers. It occurs after exposure to wild and domestic animals, with the most common animal sources being cattle, sheep, goats, kangaroos, camels and cats. […]
HIV and Travel
October 26th, 2013Guest Blogger – Dr Wendy Munckhof At the 2013 Australasian HIV and AIDS conference held in Darwin this week, it was reported that 1.6 million people worldwide died of AIDS in 2012, and more than 10 million people are currently taking medication to treat HIV infection. Most of the burden of HIV infection globally is […]
TB Vaccine ( BCG ) Brisbane
October 15th, 2013Yes we give BCG vaccine in our clinic in the Brisbane CBD (click here for details about appointments.) BCG is the vaccine used to protect against the disease Tuberculosis, also known as TB. BCG vaccine is not part of the routine Australian vaccines. This is because Tuberculosis is (thankfully) very rare in this country. However, in […]
World Rabies Day 2013
September 27th, 2013QLD media release and media outcomes FOR WORLD RABIES DAY SAT, SEPTEMBER 28, 2013 ‘Look, but don’t touch’ urges Queensland rabies expert A leading travel-health pioneer will issue Queenslanders with a public health warning today (Saturday, September 28) about the risks associated with a disease that kills an estimated 55,000 people each year.1 Dr Deborah […]
Feedback on the book, Travelling Well
September 13th, 2013From one of my readers – thanks Sherry. “Dr Deb’s book saved my life (ok, maybe not literally) in Laos in Feb 2012. I had the worst case of food poisoning I’ve ever had in my life, and in the morning, when faced with an 8 hour bus journey on wind-y and bumpy roads, […]
Persistent travellers diarrhoea
September 2nd, 2013Approximately 2-3% of travellers with severe travellers’ diarrhoea will develop persistent diarrhoea – ie symptoms lasting more than four weeks. To get this sorted, it is strongly recommended the sufferer seeks medical attention from a doctor familiar with this condition. The doctor will take a history, make an examination and often order stool and blood […]
Japanese Encephalitis Case from Thailand
August 30th, 2013A recent report of a traveller contracting Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Thailand highlights the fact that ‘rare does not mean never’. This chap had a very common itinerary: Upon arriving in Thailand, he visited Bangkok during two days where he stayed in a hotel. On 28 January he travelled by bus to Surat Thani, and on […]
Yellow Fever Exemption
August 22nd, 2013Many people have recently been ringing our clinic and asking … Is it acceptable to have a medical exemption for yellow fever vaccine instead of the vaccination certificate? Some of our patients have been told by their travel agent that the exemption certificate is not good enough and they must get vaccinated. This is ill […]
5 major parasite infections of humans
August 17th, 2013Most human parasites are, in some fashion, major (important, serious, or significant), to the individual infected. Some human parasites are major or important by virtue of being extremely common, although they are not particularly harmful, e.g. E. vermicularis, which is almost a commensal. Some parasites are major in view of their serious effect on the […]
