4^th edition

Editors Jay Keystone, Phyllis Kozarsky, Bradley Connor, Hans Nothdurft, Marc Mendelson and Karin Leder

Published by Elsevier (January 2019)

ISBN 978-0-323-54696-6

Price £110.99

https://www.uk.elsevierhealth.com/travel-medicine-9780323546966.html

Travel medicine is not a mainstream medical speciality but it is an important one all the same. Occasionally we may be asked by our patients about fitness to travel or the impact of their medical condition on their travel plans. Sometimes in primary care, we are asked to formulate a travel plan and organise a vaccination schedule for some of our patients. Sometimes a travel medicine intervention can be straightforward and sometimes this can be complex and there is a need for help from a quality reference source. Fortunately, there are some excellent websites to help us such as the UK based https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/ (mentioned in page 541 of the book) but there will also be a demand for access to a trusted textbook style reference source.

I am sure this excellent book will fill a gap for many healthcare providers who want help with a clinical problem associated with travel medicine or simply want to learn more about the subject. The book does exactly what it says on the cover, it looks at travel medicine and covers a wide range of topics of interest to a number of healthcare professionals from a diverse array of specialities. It covers topics which might not spring to mind immediately such as what to do when confronted by an active shooter or being taken hostage (Page 486).

Following this page, Chapter 55 is all about post travel screening whilst the chapter after that (Chapter 56) deals with fever in returned travellers. I am sure many of us have dealt with someone feeling unwell and with a temperature after returning from a foreign trip, so this chapter provides a useful insight on how to manage these people.

Travel medicine is a global speciality and it is good to see that there are a number of global contributors to this edition, making this a great book for a worldwide audience. There are lots of great chapters on topics that you might struggle to find in other reference sources. Take for example, the chapter on insect protection (Chapter 6) and the pregnant and breast feeding traveller (chapter 22). There are plenty of fascinating and interesting chapters and sections within this to book which I think, makes it an excellent review of the speciality. This excellent book deserves to reach a wide audience.

Included with the price of the book is a digital edition which includes a web based version as a well an app based version which is only a 127.5MB download. Both versions are easy to find your way around and adds value to owning the book. The book itself is not cheap but I would think if you had to own one travel medicine textbook, this would be a worthy contender.

Dr Harry Brown

July 2019