Chapter 4Select Destinations

David R. Shlim

The quality of travel health advice is based on trying to reduce risks for the traveler in a particular destination. Our ability to counsel travelers is improved when we have visited a particular destination ourselves, or at least are familiar with typical itineraries and the specifics of health risks. However, one’s travel experiences rarely encompass all the destinations that one’s clients seek to visit. Thus, this chapter of the Yellow Book was created to allow experts who have lived in or visited particular destinations frequently to share their insider’s knowledge of these places.

These sections should be considered a personal perspective on these areas. Preventive recommendations that are covered elsewhere in the book are usually not repeated in these chapters, other than to address controversies or to emphasize important points.

The destination sections proved to be the most popular addition to the 2010 Yellow Book. In this edition, the chapter has expanded to include 6 new destinations. The goal of these sections is to allow travel health providers to feel more comfortable giving advice about specific destinations that he or she may have never visited, and to provide a level of detail about the attractions and health risks that have not been provided elsewhere in this book.