English Abstract Travelling is a risky business. One of the risks is to
aquire a tropical infectious disease and import this disease into the home
country. To gain insight in the relation between travelling and tropical
diseases data of various sources have been collected. Travellers' diarrhoea
and fever are the most frequent complaints travellers suffer from. A study
showed that 15% of the travellers remained ill after returning home. In
1990, 800 cases of so-called import diseases were reported at the
Inspectorate of Health. The registration probably is not complete. Import
diseases regularly seen in the Netherlands are dysenteria bacillaris,
typhoid fever, hepatitis A, malaria and tuberculosis. The transmission
route and pathology of these diseases is briefly discussed. Also the
occurrences in the Netherlands from 1950 until now is given. Possible
preventive measures are vaccination, chemoprophylactic medicine and
preventive behaviour. A study showed that only 50% of the Dutch travellers
took preventive measures and that this percentage among non-Dutch
inhabitants was much lower. It is important to improve travel health
advice. The government, travel agencies, travel health centers and
migration organisations must cooperate to achieve this goal. Several more
data are necessary to discuss the topic of import diseases. A more complete
view of the problems could lead to a better vaccination level and health
care advice for travellers.