Table 3. Overview of infection-related risk exposure, adapted from (21, e9, e10).
| Exposure/risk factor | Infections/ pathogens to consider |
|
Insect bites: – Mosquitoes |
Malaria, arboviral diseases (e.g. dengue fever, West Nile fever), filariasis, leishmaniasis |
| – Flies | African trypanosomiasis (tsetse fly, painful) |
| – Deer flies (Central/West Africa) | Loiasis (painful bites of the genus Chrysops) |
| – Ticks | Rickettsioses, tick-borne relapsing fever, Crimean-Congo HF, tularemia, Q fever, tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), babesiosis, Lyme disease |
| – Mites (South/Southeast Asia, Pacific) | Tsutsugamushi fever (Orientsia tsutsugamushi) |
| – Flees | Murine spotted fever (Rickettsia typhi), flea-borne spotted fever (Rickettsia felis), plague (Yersinia pestis) |
| – Triatomine bugs (South/Central America) | American trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease) |
| – Lice | Spotted fever (R. prowazekii), louse-borne relapsing fever (Borrelia recurrentis), Wolhynia (trench) fever (Bartonella quintana) |
| Skin contact with soil/sand | Cutaneous larva migrans, ancylostomiasis (hook worms), strongyloidiasis (Strongyloides stercoralis), melioidosis (Burkholderia pseudomallei) |
| Tattoos, intravenous drug abuse, transfusions | HIV infection, hepatitis B/C, CMV infection, WNV infection, malaria, babesiosis, leishmaniasis |
| Unprotected sexual intercourse | Acute HIV, HSV, EBV, CMV infection, Zika fever, hepatitis A/B/C, syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydial infection, lymphogranuloma venereum |
| Freshwater contact(e.g., rafting, swimming) | Schistosomiasis, leptospirosis, infection with Aeromonas spp., melioidosis, atypical mycobacteriosis, legionellosis (inhalation), amebic infections |
| Saltwater contact | Infection with Vibrio vulnificus, Aeromonas spp., Mycobacterium marinum (swimming pool granuloma), Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (erysipeloid) |
| Animal bites | Rabies, cat scratch disease, rat-bite fever, sporotrichosis |
| Close animal contact | Q fever, anthrax, psittacosis, tularemia, avian influenza, MERS, Lassa HF, Nipah virus encephalitis, echinococcosis, brucellosis, other viral HF |
| Visiting friends and relatives (VFR) | Malaria, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, meningococcal meningitis, Ebola HF |
| Cave visits (especially in the Americas) | Histoplasmosis, rabies (bat bite/scratch) |
| Safari in East/South Africa | African tick bite fever, African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) |
|
Consumption of – Unclean water |
Lambliasis/giardiasis, cryptosporidiosis, amebiasis, hepatitis A/E, typhoid fever |
| – Raw food (unwashed) | Helminthiases (Ascaris, Trichuris, Echinococcus, Fasciola), typhoid/paratyphoid fever, hepatitis A/E |
| – Raw milk/raw milk products | Listeriosis, brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, yersiniosis, salmonellosis |
| – Raw meat | Salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, yersiniosis, Clostridium perfringens infection, hemolytic uremic syndrome (due to EHEC), hepatitis A/E, sarcocystosis, toxoplasmosis, trichinellosis, taeniasis |
| – Raw fish/seafood | Gnathostomiasis, infections with Vibrio vulnificus, Aeromonas spp. and Shewanella spp., hepatitis A/E, norovirus enteritis, opisthorchiasis/clonorchiasis (liver flukes), intoxication (e.g. ciguatera) |
| – Snails/crabs (Southeast Asia, pacific) | Eosinophilic meningitis (Angiostrongylus cantonensis), paragonimiasis |
CMV, cytomegalovirus; EBV, Epstein-Barr virus; EHEC, enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli; TBE, tick-borne encephalitis; HF, hemorrhagic fever;
HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; HSV, herpes simplex virus; MERS, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome; VFR, visiting friends and relatives; WNV, West Nile virus