Table 1. Demographic and clinical characteristics of 2004 returned travellers or new immigrants presenting to a CanTravNet site for care of a travel-related illness, 2011–2012*.
| Characteristic | All travellers n = 2004 |
Purpose of travel; no. (%) of travellers‡ | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tourism n = 883 |
Immigration n = 493 |
Visit friends and relatives n = 206 |
Missionary, volunteer, researcher, aid worker n = 212 |
Business n = 160 |
Other§ n = 50 |
|||||||||
| Sex | ||||||||||||||
| Male | 856 | 42.7 | 327 | 37.0 | 240 | 48.7 | 101 | 49.0 | 73 | 34.4. | 97 | 60.6 | 18 | 36.0 |
| Female | 1147 | 57.2 | 556 | 63.0 | 252 | 51.1 | 105 | 51.0 | 139 | 65.6 | 63 | 39.4 | 32 | 64.0 |
| Unknown | 1 | 1 | 0.2 | |||||||||||
| Age, yr, median (range) | 38 | 0 - 87 | 38 | 1 - 81 | 39 | 1 - 84 | 40 | 0 - 87 | 30 | 15 - 79 | 41 | 22 - 78 | 25 | 9 - 70 |
| Type of patient | ||||||||||||||
| Inpatient | 68 | 3.4 | 13 | 1.5 | 20 | 4.1 | 25 | 12.1 | 4 | 1.9 | 5 | 3.1 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Outpatient | 1936 | 96.6 | 870 | 98.5 | 473 | 181 | 208 | 155 | 49 | |||||
| Travel duration, d, median (range) | 20 | 0 - 3660 | 15 | 0 - 3660 | NA | NA | 36 | 1 - 553 | 37 | 3 - 3659 | 21.5 | 1 - 1339 | 46 | 3 - 2526 |
| Pre-travel medical encounter | ||||||||||||||
| Yes | 594 | 29.6 | 299 | 33.9 | NA | NA | 33 | 16.0 | 143 | 67.5 | 83 | 51.9 | 29 | 58.0 |
| No | 656 | 32.7 | 362 | 41.0 | NA | NA | 116 | 56.3 | 24 | 11.3 | 40 | 25.0 | 14 | 28.0 |
| Unknown | 754 | 37.6 | 222 | 25.1 | NA | NA | 57 | 27.7 | 45 | 21.2 | 37 | 23.1 | 7 | 14.0 |
| Syndromic diagnoses | ||||||||||||||
| Gastrointestinal | 986 | 49.2 | 456 | 51.6 | 200 | 40.6 | 91 | 44.2 | 114 | 53.8 | 93 | 58.1 | 32 | 64.0 |
| Dermatologic | 434 | 21.7 | 311 | 35.2 | 15 | 3.0 | 35 | 17.0 | 37 | 16.0 | 25 | 15.6 | 11 | 22.0 |
| Systemic febrile illness | 225 | 11.2 | 70 | 7.9 | 36 | 7.3 | 60 | 29.1 | 28 | 13.2 | 28 | 17.5 | 3 | 6.0 |
| Respiratory | 113 | 5.6 | 41 | 4.6 | 35 | 7.1 | 15 | 7.3 | 9 | 4.2 | 12 | 7.5 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Geographic region of exposure | ||||||||||||||
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 444 | 22.2 | 76 | 8.6 | 141 | 28.6 | 58 | 28.2 | 105 | 49.5 | 52 | 32.5 | 22 | 44.0 |
| Caribbean | 304 | 15.2 | 245 | 27.7 | 32 | 6.5 | 14 | 6.8 | 25 | 11.8 | 13 | 8.1 | 1 | 2.0 |
| South Central Asia | 278 | 13.9 | 73 | 8.3 | 104 | 21.1 | 71 | 34.5 | 13 | 6.1 | 11 | 6.9 | 9 | 18.0 |
| Central America | 214 | 10.7 | 182 | 20.6 | 4 | 0.8 | 11 | 5.3 | 15 | 7.1 | 16 | 10.0 | 7 | 14.0 |
| South East Asia | 206 | 10.3 | 112 | 12.7 | 69 | 14.0 | 10 | 4.9 | 9 | 4.2 | 11 | 6.9 | 0 | 0 |
| South America | 123 | 6.1 | 58 | 6.6 | 14 | 2.8 | 20 | 9.7 | 14 | 6.6 | 13 | 8.1 | 6 | 12.0 |
| North East Asia | 74 | 3.7 | 16 | 1.8 | 44 | 8.9 | 7 | 3.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 8 | 5.0 | 1 | 2.0 |
| North America | 51 | 2.5 | 42 | 4.8 | 1 | 0. | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 6 | 3.8 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Western Europe | 34 | 1.7 | 24 | 2.7 | 7 | 1.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 |
| Eastern Europe | 38 | 1.9 | 3 | 0.3 | 27 | 5.5 | 6 | 2.9 | 1 | 0.5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Middle East | 36 | 1.8 | 8 | 0.9 | 21 | 4.3 | 2 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 3.1 | 0 | 0 |
| North Africa | 41 | 2.0 | 10 | 1.1 | 19 | 3.9 | 4 | 1.9 | 4 | 1.9 | 6 | 3.8 | 0 | 0 |
| Australia / New Zealand | 5 | 0.2 | 3 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.6 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Oceania | 8 | 0.4 | 4 | 0.5 | 2 | 0.4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown | 148 | 7.4 | 99 | 11.2 | 8 | 1.6 | 2 | 1.0 | 21 | 9.9 | 17 | 10.6 | 1 | 2.0 |
| Birth country | ||||||||||||||
| Canada | 1089 | 54.3 | 732 | 82.9 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 20.4 | 161 | 75.9 | 117 | 73.1 | 36 | 72.0 |
| Outside Canada | 915 | 45.7 | 151 | 17.1 | 493 | 100.0 | 164 | 79.6† | 51 | 24.1 | 43 | 26.9 | 14 | 28.0 |
*The cohort consisted of 2004 travellers with a definitive travel-related diagnosis,166 with a non-travel–related diagnosis and 113 with a diagnosis for which relation to travel could not be ascertained. This analysis includes only those travellers with a travel-related diagnosis. ‡Except where indicated otherwise. §Includes students (n = 42), military personnel (n = 6) and medical tourists (n = 2). †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 (e.g. second generation immigrants) who returned to their parents’ homeland to visit friends and relatives.