Travel to "exotic" destinations may come with some health risks

No longer satisfied with lounging on the beach in some Florida resort, today's Gen-50plus are opting for more exotic destinations when they travel. Trips to Asia, Africa, South America are on the bucket-lists of many Boomers seeking to experience new cultures, adventures and personal challenges.  Opportunities to live, work and play anywhere in the world are the reality for today's generation of young adults, and an increasing number of their parents also want to play in and explore the global village.

Today's Boomers are already beginning to dominate the foreign travel market, and that shift promises to increase exponentially as the Gen-50plus population grows.

"This generation is more educated, has more disposable income, has more available time for leisure and travel and is more likely to have engaged in international travel earlier in life than preceding generations. Data suggest that seniors are neither deterred from travel by chronic health conditions, nor adequately prepared," says a recent report by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

A report sends out a cautionary note to Boomers planning to travel to foreign shores.  Older people travelling abroad face a number of health risks, including more danger of blood clots on long flights, negative reactions to tropical disease vaccines, greater vulnerability to infectious diseases, diminished immune systems that weaken the protection offered by vaccines and increased complications for seniors with chronic health problems.  For example, the threat of serious complications from malaria nearly doubles to 61% among those over 60 comparabled to adults generally. And the vaccine for yellow fever, which is recommended for travel in Africa, can cause rare but potentially fatal neurological side effects, with the risk almost tripling for those over 70. 

Do these increased health risks mean older adults should go back to the quiet beaches of Florida?  Not at all. They do, however, need to be more aware of the risks and better prepared when they travel.  They should, for instance, carry detailed medical information with them about their health conditions and make sure they have enough medication to last their entire trip.

This information appears in a National Post article by Tom Blackwell, July 22/11 that can be read at: 
Bucket-list pensioners packing health risks.
Read the Public Health Agency of Canada report.