Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of 4365 returned travellers or new immigrants presenting to a CanTravNet site for care of a presumed travel-related illness, 2009–2011*
| Characteristic | All travellers n = 4365 |
Purpose of travel †; no. (%) of travellers ‡ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourism n = 2010 |
Immigration n = 876 |
Visit friends and relatives n = 500 |
Missionary, volunteer, researcher, aid n = 431 |
Business n = 359 |
Other§ n = 139 |
||
| Sex | |||||||
| Male | 2026 (46.4) | 836 (41.6) | 492 (56.2) | 243 (48.6) | 159 (36.9) | 220 (61.3) | 54 (38.8) |
| Female | 2337 (53.5) | 1173 (58.4) | 383 (43.7) | 257 (51.4) | 272 (63.1) | 139 (38.7) | 85 (61.2) |
| Unknown | 2 (< 0.1) | 1 (< 0.1) | 1 (0.1) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) |
| Age, yr, median (range) | 38 (0–95) | 38 (0–89) | 41 (1–95) | 39 (0–88) | 30 (2–85) | 43 (11–83) | 25 (13–74) |
| Type of patient | |||||||
| Inpatient | 224 (5.1) | 60 (3.0) | 64 (7.3) | 53 (10.6) | 17 (3.9) | 19 (5.3) | 10 (7.2) |
| Outpatient | 4112 (94.2) | 1950 (97.0) | 810 (92.5) | 447 (89.4) | 414 (96.1) | 339 (94.4) | 129 (92.8) |
| Unknown | 29 (0.7) | 0 (0) | 2 (0.2) | 0 (0) | 0 (0) | 1 (0.3) | 0 (0) |
| Travel duration, d, median (range) | 20 (0–6632) | 15 (0–3294) | NA | 31 (0–2236) | 37 (0–4104) | 21 (0–1835) | 62.5 (1–847) |
| Pretravel medical encounter | |||||||
| Yes | 1482 (34.0) | 790 (39.3) | NA | 104 (20.8) | 304 (70.5) | 180 (50.1) | 89 (64.0) |
| No | 1614 (37.0) | 683 (34.0) | NA | 289 (57.8) | 41 (9.5) | 97 (27.0) | 19 (13.7) |
| Unknown | 1269 (29.1) | 537 (26.7) | NA | 107 (21.4) | 86 (20.0) | 82 (22.8) | 31 (22.3) |
| Syndromic diagnoses | |||||||
| Gastrointestinal | 1909 (43.7) | 938 (46.7) | 445 (50.8) | 228 (45.6) | 207 (48.0) | 157 (43.7) | 68 (48.9) |
| Dermatologic | 642 (14.7) | 488 (24.3) | 52 (5.9) | 52 (10.4) | 50 (11.6) | 49 (13.6) | 17 (12.2) |
| Systemic febrile illness | 470 (10.8) | 198 (9.9) | 50 (5.7) | 112 (22.4) | 62 (14.4) | 67 (18.7) | 20 (14.4) |
| Respiratory | 235 (5.4) | 92 (4.6) | 82 (9.4) | 24 (4.8) | 23 (5.3) | 26 (7.2) | 10 (7.2) |
| Geographic region of exposure | |||||||
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 931 (21.3) | 191 (9.5) | 260 (29.7) | 137 (27.4) | 185 (42.9) | 108 (30.1) | 49 (35.3) |
| Caribbean | 572 (13.1) | 414 (20.6) | 55 (6.3) | 29 (5.8) | 44 (10.2) | 24 (6.7) | 5 (3.6) |
| South Central Asia | 516 (11.8) | 174 (8.7) | 125 (14.3) | 129 (25.8) | 34 (7.9) | 30 (8.4) | 24 (17.3) |
| Central America | 484 (11.1) | 372 (18.5) | 12 (1.4) | 25 (5.0) | 45 (10.4) | 18 (5.0) | 12 (8.6) |
| South East Asia | 389 (8.9) | 167 (8.3) | 143 (16.3) | 33 (6.6) | 12 (2.8) | 29 (8.1) | 5 (3.6) |
| South America | 253 (5.8) | 135 (6.7) | 23 (2.6) | 36 (7.2) | 43 (10.0) | 10 (2.8) | 5 (3.6) |
| North East Asia | 165 (3.8) | 30 (1.5) | 85 (9.7) | 15 (3.0) | 5 (1.2) | 25 (7.0) | 5 (3.6) |
| North America | 140 (3.2) | 94 (4.7) | 6 (0.7) | 5 (1.0) | 2 (0.5) | 16 (4.5) | 6 (4.3) |
| Other|| | 349 (8.0) | 132 (6.6) | 115 (13.1) | 51 (10.2) | 14 (3.2) | 25 (7.0) | 11 (7.9) |
| Unknown | 566 (13.0) | 301 (15.0) | 52 (5.9) | 40 (8.0) | 47 (10.9) | 74 (20.6) | 17 (12.2) |
| Birth country | |||||||
| Canada | 2418 (55.4) | 1611 (80.1) | 0 (0) | 82 (16.4) | 351 (81.4) | 229 (63.8) | 104 (74.8) |
| Outside Canada | 1947 (44.6) | 399 (19.9) | 876 (100) | 418 (83.6)¶ | 80 (18.6) | 130 (36.2) | 35 (25.2) |
| Immigrant | |||||||
| Yes | 1837 (42.1) | 357 (17.8) | 876 (100) | 403 (80.6) | 65 (15.1) | 112 (31.2) | 16 (11.5) |
| No or unknown | 2528 (57.9) | 1653 (82.2) | 0 (0) | 97 (19.4) | 366 (84.9) | 247 (68.8) | 123 (88.5) |
| Delay to presentation, ** d, median (range) | 30 (0–184) | 28 (0–184) | 78 (4–183) | 35 (0–184) | 28 (0–180) | 30.5 (0–184) | 29 (0–180) |
The cohort consisted of 3943 travellers with a definitive travel-related diagnosis, 363 with a non-travel-related diagnosis, and 59 with a diagnosis for which relation to travel could not be ascertained.
Purpose of travel was available for 4315 of the 4365 members of the cohort.
Except where indicated otherwise.
Includes students (n = 111), military personnel (n = 24), and medical tourists (n = 4); does not include those for whom reason for travel was unknown (n = 50).
Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Australia/New Zealand, and Oceania.
Among those born outside of Canada, people who travelled for the purpose of visiting friends and relatives were defined as immigrants who were ethnically and/or racially distinct from the majority population in their current country of residence and who returned to their homeland to visit friends and relatives. This group also included children of foreign-born parents (i.e., second-generation immigrants) who returned to their parents' homeland to visit friends and relatives.
Interval between the end of travel and presentation at CanTravNet site.