[Travel vaccination recommendations for Central and Eastern European countries based on country-specific risk profiles]

Abstract

Within the last years, an increasing trend of voyages to Central and Eastern European destinations could be observed. However, Europeans travelling within their own continent do not consider themselves as travellers exposed to possibly travel-associated infections since problem awareness among tourists as well as consulting doctors is rather scanty. The objective of this expert statement is to outline country-specific risk profiles as well as guidelines with regard to relevant travel immunizations for this region. These recommendations are mainly based on risk estimates according to national incidences and prevalences of vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid fever, meningococcal meningitis, rabies, and tick-borne encephalitis.