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Mike Mitka

JAMA. 2000;283:2226-2227.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Your patient has travel plans. She intends to fly to Borneo to climb from the rain forest floor to the 13,500-foot summit of Mount Kinabalu.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that she be vaccinated against the usual diseases encountered in that area—hepatitis A, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, and typhoid—and suggests, if needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles and a one-time dose for polio. The CDC recommends hepatitis B vaccine only if the traveler may be exposed to blood, have sexual contact with someone in the local population, stay longer than 6 months, or be exposed through local medical treatment.

The would-be mountaineer does not anticipate any need for medical treatment, but what if she injures herself on the climb, or requires an emergency appendectomy?

TRAVEL IS RISKY

The International Society of Travel Medicine (ISTM) thinks the optional hepatitis B vaccine recommendation by the CDC . . . [Full Text of this Article]