Background

Expatriates (expats) from European countries regularly migrate to low-income countries where infectious diseases are more prevalent. Little evidence exists however on pediatric expatriates’ compliance with preventive measures related to infectious diseases. This study aims to evaluate compliance in Belgian expat-children.

Methods

Data of 135 Belgian expat-children, visiting the Institute of Tropical Medicine (Antwerp, Belgium), were collected from clinical notes, laboratory results and from a web-based immunization-register. Information on routine vaccinations, yellow fever, hepatitis A, rabies, typhoid fever, meningococcal ACW₁₃₅Y, Japanese encephalitis, BCG vaccine and anti-malaria chemoprophylaxis was collected.

Results

Overall, 87% of expat-children were up-to-date with their routine vaccinations. Although all children were eligible for hepatitis A, typhoid and rabies vaccination, only 8–21% were fully vaccinated. Only 29 and 61% of eligible children were vaccinated against meningococcal (ACW₁₃₅Y) or yellow fever respectively. Finally, only 10% of children who lived in malaria-endemic-areas, reported chemoprophylaxis-use.

Conclusion

Although routine vaccination coverage in expat-children seems adequate, additional preventive measures are often needed. Whether this is due to lack of high-quality health care-access, fear of side-effects or insufficient knowledge about the risks/available preventive measures, remains elusive. Nevertheless, expats seem to constitute a separate risk-group for infectious diseases and destination-related health issues.

中文翻译：

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比利时侨民儿童对国家旅行医学建议的依从性低：一项回顾性分析

背景

来自欧洲国家的外籍人士（外籍人士）定期迁移到传染病更为普遍的低收入国家。然而，几乎没有证据表明外籍儿科人员遵守与传染病相关的预防措施。本研究旨在评估比利时外籍儿童的依从性。

方法

访问热带医学研究所（比利时安特卫普）的 135 名比利时外籍儿童的数据是从临床记录、实验室结果和基于网络的免疫注册中收集的。收集了有关常规疫苗接种、黄热病、甲型肝炎、狂犬病、伤寒、脑膜炎球菌 ACW ₁₃₅ Y、日本脑炎、BCG 疫苗和抗疟疾化学预防的信息。

结果

总体而言，87% 的外籍儿童接种了最新的常规疫苗。尽管所有儿童都有资格接种甲型肝炎、伤寒和狂犬病疫苗，但只有 8–21% 的儿童完全接种了疫苗。只有 29% 和 61% 的符合条件的儿童分别接种了脑膜炎球菌 (ACW ₁₃₅ Y) 或黄热病疫苗。最后，只有 10% 生活在疟疾流行区的儿童报告使用了化学预防措施。

结论

尽管外籍儿童的常规疫苗接种覆盖率似乎足够，但通常需要额外的预防措施。这是否是由于缺乏高质量的医疗保健服务、对副作用的恐惧或对风险/可用预防措施的了解不足，仍然难以捉摸。尽管如此，外籍人士似乎构成了感染疾病和与目的地相关的健康问题的独立风险群体。