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Volume 15, Number 11—November 2009
Dispatch

Serologic Analysis of Returned Travelers with Fever, Sweden

Helena H. Askling1Comments to Author , Birgitta Lesko1, Sirkka Vene, Angerd Berndtson, Per Björkman, Jonas Bläckberg, Ulf Bronner, Per Follin, Urban Hellgren, Maria Palmerus, Karl Ekdahl, Anders Tegnell, and Johan Struwe
Author affiliations: Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden (H.H. Askling, K. Ekdahl); Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm (H.H. Askling, U. Bronner, U. Hellgren); Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, Stockholm (B. Lesko, A. Tegnell); Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Stockholm (B. Lesko, S. Vene, A. Berndtson, J. Struwe); Malmö University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden (P. Björkman); Lund University Hospital, Lund, Sweden (J. Bläckberg); Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden (P. Follin); County Hospital Ryhov, Jönköping, Sweden (M. Palmerus); European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm (K. Ekdahl)

Main Article

Table 1

Characteristics of 1,432 febrile travelers returning from tropical countries, Sweden, March 2005–March 2008*

Characteristics Patients with routine investigations
 Prospectively identified patients with routine investigation + additional serologic analysis, n = 383
Prospectively identified, n = 131 Retrospectively identified, n = 918
Median age, y (range) 32 (18–65) 36 (18–84) 37 (18–76)
Median duration of stay, d 20 21† 20
Female gender 56 (43) 420 (46) 162 (42)
Travel to Africa 69 (53) 430 (47) 199 (52)
Travel to Asia 53 (40) 427 (46) 169 (44)
Travel to America 10 (8) 63 (7) 20 (5)
Tourists 76 (58) 581(63)‡ 247 (64)
VFR 10 (8), p = 0.05§ 126 (14)‡ 20 (5), p<0.0001§
Pretravel influenza immunization 8 (6) NA 53 (14)
Hospitalized after return to Sweden 37 (28) 258 (28) 123 (32)

*Values are no. (%) patients except as indicated. Some travelers visited >1 region, making the percent sum >100%. VFR, visiting friends and relatives (Swedish residents who were born in a malaria-endemic country and who had visited friends and relatives in their country of origin); NA, not applicable.
†In 115 patient files, this information was missing.
‡In 39 patient files, information on type of travel was missing.
§Compared with retrospectively identified patients.

Main Article

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1These authors contributed equally to this article.

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