AUGUSTA– The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Maine CDC) is encouraging Maine residents to stay safe while enjoying spring traveling. Travel and vacations can promote physical and mental health. That said, with school and other spring vacations occurring amid recent outbreaks of dengue, measles, and hepatitis A in the U.S. and abroad, travelers should plan and take precautions to stay healthy.
The Maine CDC offers the following tips for safe and healthy travel this spring:
- Check travel requirements and recommendations for your destination.
- Talk to your health care provider to get destination-specific vaccines, medicines, and information.
- Stay up to date on your routine vaccines. Routine vaccines help prevent diseases that can be associated with gatherings and travel, such as measles, flu, COVID-19, and Hepatitis A. Many diseases prevented by routine vaccination in the United States are still common in other countries.
- Pack the essentials. Make sure you have tissues, hand sanitizer, EPA-approved insect repellents, sunscreen, and other essentials to protect yourself and your family while traveling. Consider packing a travel health kit.
- Make contingency health plans. Consider what you could do to get health care during travel if needed.
- Protect yourself during travel. Remember to wash your hands and consider masking when in crowded areas with little ventilation. Consider avoiding raw or undercooked foods, particularly meat, fish, and shellfish. Being aware of the quality of drinking water can also help reduce illness. Take steps to protect your sexual health.
- Prevent bites from mosquitoes, ticks, and animals that may carry disease, such as by wearing pants and long-sleeved garments, using EPA-approved repellants, sleeping under bed nets, and keeping distance from wildlife.
If you feel sick or have a fever after your trip, call a health care provider and be sure to tell them about your recent travel.
For more information visit travel requirements and recommendations.