Emerging Diseases and Travel Medicine

Code:

OPT5_13

Acronym:

MDECV

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2024/2025 - 2S (of 03-03-2025 to 13-06-2025)

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Medical Teaching
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Masters Degree in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIM	15	Official Study Plan	5	-	3	32	81

Teaching language

Portuguese
Obs.: Português - Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

Acquisition of epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic concepts of the most common issues on Tropical Medicine and emerging illnesses. The student should understand the importance of this subject in a globalised world and its growing "expansion", once restricted to tropical areas.

Learning outcomes and competences

The student should acquire the basic concepts defined in the objectives, underscoring the ability of identification, management and guidance of problems whose epidemiology is rarely addressed in the context of undergraduate training.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Introduction to the course

Importance of the subject in a globalised world and its growing "expansion", once restricted to tropical areas.

General tropical medicine

Origins of Tropical Medicine; What are the most serious and distressing illnesses in the tropics; Tropic Health goals in the XXI century.

Great Endemics

Definitions (reservoir; vector; incidence; prevalence; pandemic; endemic; epidemic; epizootic); General approach of large tropical endemic diseases (tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, HIV/AIDS; malaria;...); Evolution of the great tropical endemics throughout the XX century and development scenario in the XXI century.

Emerging Diseases

Epidemic characterization and enumeration of the most important emerging and reemerging diseases - West Nile; Chickungunya; Dengue fever; Zika; Marburg; Ebola; Coronavirus, etc…

Neglected tropical diseases

Definition, concept and common features of neglected tropical diseases; Superficial approach (enumerate in some cases) of the 17 tropical diseases considered by WHO as neglected)

Laboratory Diagnosis basics of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases

In collaboration with colleagues in the laboratory, eventually with support of practical classes with microscopy observation, etc. Classical bacteriological identification basics; Hematological parasite research; Examination and identification of eggs and parasites; Role of molecular biology techniques in the diagnosis of these diseases.

Tropical Infectious and Emerging Diseases

Programmatic content to be addressed in theoretical classes; practical and theoretical-practical classes. Tropical Infectious, Emerging and Neglected diseases, incorporating the information given in "generalities".

Vector-borne Diseases
   - Malaria
   - Filariasis
   - African trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness)
   - American Trypanosomiasis (Chagas disease)
   - Carrion's Disease (Oroya Fever + Peruvian Wart)
   - Hemorrhagic fevers (including some arboviruses)
   - Other arboviruses
   - Schistosomiasis (Bilharziasis)
   - Rickettsiosis

Fecal-oral transmission diseases
   - Diarrhea in developing countries
   - Typhoid fever
   - Enteric transmission viral hepatitis (A and E)
   - Poliomyelitis
   - Amebiasis

Parasitoses
   - Diseases caused by nematodes (excluding filaria)
   - Diseases caused by trematodes

Skin diseases
   - Burundi ulcer
   - Tunguíase
   - Leprosy


Respiratory diseases
   - The flu
   - Tuberculosis
   - Melioidosis
   - Coronavirus

Sexually Transmitted Infections (Particular Aspects in the Tropics)
   - Syphilis and other treponematoses
   - HIV / AIDS
   - Soft cancer
   - Donovanose
   - Gonorrhea


Others
   - Rabies
   - Brucellosis
   - Leptospirosis

Particularities in Travel Medicine

Having addressed the potential infectious problems of travelers to tropical areas, specific problems of travelers will be addressed (pre-travel counseling and post-travel clinical assessment).

General information about pre-travel counseling

Problems associated with travel - deep vein thrombosis, jet lag, cruise travel, etc ...

Traveler with special conditions

Pre-travel vaccination

Systematic clinical evaluation in the returned patient

Mandatory literature

Richard Guerrant, David Walker, Peter Weller; Tropical Infectious Diseases ; Principles Pathogens and Practice, Elsevier Saunders, 2011
Jay Keystone, Phyllis Kozarsky, Bradley Connor, Hans Nothdurft, Marc Mendelson, Karin Leder; Travel Medicine 3rd Ed., Elsevier Saunders, 2018

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical classes and practical classes.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	50,00
Apresentação/discussão de um trabalho científico	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	49,00
Frequência das aulas	32,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

In accordance with the current legislation

Calculation formula of final grade

Continuous assessment – 50%
scientific work – 50%

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Oral exam

Classification improvement

Oral exam

Observations

- yellow book: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2018/table-of-contents

- INTERNATIONAL HEALTH REGULATIONS - Docs: List of countries, territories, and areas1 Vaccination requirements and recommendations for international travellers, including yellow fever and malaria WHO

Nov2018: https://www.who.int/ith/ith-yellow-fever-annex1.pdf?ua=1&ua=1

e https://www.who.int/ith/ith-country-list.pdf.

- Microsite DGS PNV: 

https://www.dgs.pt/paginas-de-sistema/saude-de-a-a-z/programa-nacional-de-vacinacao/esquema-recomendado.aspx (tem o esquema atual, particularidades das vacinas que o

compõem)

- Position paper rabies WHO: 

https://www.who.int/immunization/policy/position_papers/pp_rabies_summary_2018.pdf

- Guidelines diarreia viajante: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28521004

- CDC Traveler's health: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel

- fit for travel: https://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/home

- Travel health pro: https://travelhealthpro.org.uk/