Chronic symptoms persisting after travel-related infections

The authors present the current state of knowledge about the long term sequelae of the common travel-related infections associated with immunological dysregulation. Travellers’ diarrhoea, chikungunya and dengue are common in travellers and protracted manifestations such as post-infectious irritable bowel syndrome (travellers’ diarrhoea), arthritis (chikungunya) or post-dengue syndrome may be more prevalent than previously thought. Attention should be paid to active prevention of the infections during travel, especially when an effective treatment against long-term sequelae has not been established. Further studies should be designed in order to determine the interactions between the host, the environment and  the pathogens, as well as to identify the prognostic factors for developing long-term manifestations after infections in a large group of travellers.