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The August 2008 Olympic Summer Games in Beijing and other cities in China are expected to attract 600,000 foreign visitors and athletes and up to 2.5 million domestic visitors and volunteers.1 A number of sources have provided general guidelines on health and safety issues for travelers to China.2,3 Beijing Olympic visitors may choose to extend their visit to other parts of China. Here, we present selected data collected from travelers to China over 10 years from 1998 through November 2007 by the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network to provide an evidence base for prioritizing recommendations for Olympic and other future travelers to China. Because China is often considered as an exotic destination by many travelers and health care providers, the actual health outcomes associated with travel to China were compared with two other regions of Asia—Southeast Asia and India.
GeoSentinel Sites are specialized travel or tropical medicine clinics that contribute point of care, clinician-based sentinel surveillance data (diagnosis, travel itinerary, demographics) on all ill travelers that present to the site. To be included in the database, patients must have crossed an international border within 10 years before presentation and have sought medical advice for a presumed travel-related illness. Detailed methods for patient recruitment, inclusion criteria, and limitations of the GeoSentinel database are described in previous publications.4,5 This report includes 2,427 patients (hereafter "China travelers") of the 85,000 currently in the database who had China specified by the clinician as their country of exposure for a travel-related illness. Of these patients, 25% (598) were seen in their home country after completion of travel and 75% (1,829) were seen during their travel during the 10-year study period. Those seen during their travel primarily visited the Beijing GeoSentinel Site, a full-service hospital staffed mostly by expatriate physicians. The rest visited a new Hong Kong GeoSentinel Site beginning in 2007. China travelers seen after their travel visited 30 other GeoSentinel Sites in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia. Separate collection and analysis of data for those seen during travel allows detection and characterization of acute health events with short incubation periods and self-limited courses that would otherwise be resolved or already treated by the time the traveler has returned to their home country. When clinicians in the travel and tropical disease clinics cannot make a specific etiologic diagnosis, a full list of syndromic diagnosis codes can be used to facilitate the consistent classification of patients. The GeoSentinel database provides a standard list of > 500 individual diagnosis codes that are classified into 21 general syndrome groupings.5
As shown in Table 1
, for patients seen during travel, the most frequent syndromes were respiratory (365 per 1,000 ill travelers), injury (126 per 1,000), dermatologic (includes animal bites; 103 per 1,000), psychological (84 per 1,000), systemic febrile illness (79 per 1,000), and acute diarrhea (61 per 1,000). Of note, within the injury grouping, the most frequent diagnoses were sprain/strain (60 per 1,000 ill travelers), laceration (11 per 1,000), fracture (10 per 1,000), and contusion (9 per 1,000).
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The most common diagnoses for the top three syndrome groups are listed in Table 2, separately for patients seen during travel and seen after travel. For respiratory syndrome, upper respiratory tract infection and acute bronchitis were the top two diagnoses among patients seen during and after travel. Pneumonia and influenza were not common among those seen during travel but were among the top five diagnoses among those seen after travel. For dermatologic problems, eczema was the most common diagnosis among those seen during travel, and dog bite was the most common diagnosis among those seen after travel.
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1 year of age (1.1 times more likely), were travelers visiting friends and relatives (VFRs) (9.8 times more likely), or were students (6.7 times more likely).
We compared the spectrum of disease and relative probability of common syndromes between China travelers and those who had traveled to Southeast Asia or India (Table 1
). Among patients seen during travel, systemic febrile illness and acute diarrhea were the most common syndromes experienced by travelers to Southeast Asia and India, respectively, whereas respiratory ailments were the most common syndrome reported by China travelers. Importantly, among all ill travelers exposed in China over 10 years, there were no cases of malaria, dengue, leishmaniasis, or Japanese encephalitis (JE). There was one case of leptospirosis and two cases of unspecified rickettsial disease.
Only limited data on immunization of China travelers seen after travel were available from GeoSentinel, because this data entry module is optional. Among China travelers, 89/598 (15%) provided immunization information. Of these, 22/89 (25%) had received between two and six immunizations. Immunization rates were as follows: hepatitis A, 17/81 (21%); hepatitis B, 12/79 (15%); influenza, 2/35 (5.7%); JE, 3/77 (4%); measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), 1/24 (4%); measles, 1/23 (4%); rabies, 2/84 (2%); typhoid, 10/78 (13%).
In Table 3, we compared characteristics of China travelers to those of Southeast Asia and India travelers combined (N = 10,582, 86% seen after travel and 14% seen during travel; P < 0.01; two-sided 
2 for all comparisons below). For patients seen during travel, China travelers were significantly more likely to be an expatriate (97% versus 89%), to have sought pre-travel medical advice (76% versus 7%), to be a child (37% versus 1% < 15 years), and to be female (56% versus 23%). For patients seen after travel, China travelers were more likely to have taken shorter trips (43% versus 26% 2 weeks), to be older (23% versus 11% 
55 years), to be traveling for the purpose of visiting friends and relatives (15% versus 7%), and to present more quickly to a clinic after their trips (51% versus 47% 1 week).
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We found a high rate of injuries among China travelers seen during travel; construction and safety standards in public places and conveyances in China may not meet the usual expectations of many travelers, which may account for the increased injuries. Travelers, especially those with limited mobility, should be educated on practices to ensure safe mobility while in China.
Our findings corroborate previous reports that highlight respiratory illness as a particular concern for travelers returning from Asia in general and China specifically.7,8 The respiratory grouping includes specific pathogens (e.g., influenza A and B and pneumococcus), as well as syndromic diagnosis codes for bronchitis, pneumonia, sinusitis, upper respiratory infection, and otitis. Respiratory illness was the primary syndrome that required hospitalization in China travelers seen during travel. Air pollution problems in Beijing and other Olympic venues9,10 may put athletes and spectators at an increased risk of occurrence of respiratory problems during the 2008 Olympics, although clean air measures are being implemented before the Games.
Animal bites are common in China, with 140,000 animal bites reported in Beijing in 2006.2 China currently has the second highest number of cases of human rabies in the world.11,12 Rabies has, since May 2006, become China’s leading cause of reportable infectious disease mortality, killing 3,293 people in 2006, 27% more than in 2005,2,13 with cases in Beijing but with most of the cases occurring outside of Beijing.14–16 Children are at higher risk for rabies because they tend to play with animals, may receive more severe bites, and may not report bites.17 Dogs in China are often not properly vaccinated because of non-adherence to registration and vaccination requirements, especially in rural areas that travelers may visit after the Olympics. There are also anecdotal reports that counterfeit veterinary vaccines are on the market.2,18 More importantly, there is no World Health Organization (WHO)-approved imported rabies immune globulin (RIG) currently available in China, although it is available in Hong Kong. Travelers who are not part of the diplomatic corps or with official delegations will have access only to locally made Chinese RIG (S. MacDonald, unpublished data). Some authors recommend2 that the threshold for pre-exposure rabies vaccination should be lower than usual and be recommended for persons with prolonged travel in China and for all those shorter-stay travelers who anticipate spending much of their time outdoors, particularly in rural areas. Travelers should be made aware of preventive measures such as consistently avoiding contact with any animals, cleansing wounds immediately, and seeking reliable medical care promptly for all animal bites, no matter how minor. Given the lower risk of rabies in urban areas, especially in Beijing, travelers who only plan to visit urban Beijing for the Olympics may not need to obtain routine pre-exposure immunization.
We found that immunization among travelers to China was low, but immunization histories were unavailable for the majority of our patient population. The pre-travel consultation is an important opportunity for health care providers to ensure that all travelers are up to date on immunizations19 such as MMR,20 diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (DTaP, TdaP, Td),21 and poliovirus vaccine22; those who belong to the respective risk groups should receive pneumococcal vaccine.23 In addition, any traveler who wants to reduce the risk for influenza infection should consider influenza vaccination.24,25 Hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and typhoid vaccines should be considered for all travelers to China. Travelers who plan to visit destinations in China outside Beijing should consider additional precautions. These include a pre-exposure rabies vaccine and JE vaccine for longer stays in rural areas,26 as well as malaria prophylaxis for the infrequent traveler visiting malaria-endemic regions. Travelers with pre-existing conditions, such as asthma, may especially need to visit their health care providers for pre-travel advice.
In summary, we found that health outcomes of travel to China were not "exotic" compared with travel to the typical tropical countries of Asia but were substantial enough to result in medical encounters for a variety of significant health events; travelers and health care practitioners should work together to ensure safe and healthy travel to China.
Received May 6, 2008. Accepted for publication June 2, 2008.
Financial support: GeoSentinel, The Global Surveillance Network of the International Society of Travel Medicine is supported by Cooperative Agreement U50/CCU412347 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Disclaimer: The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the funding agency.
* Address correspondence to Nina Marano, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS E-03, Atlanta, GA 30333. E-mail: nmarano{at}cdc.gov 
In addition to the named authors, members of the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network include the following: Anne Anglim, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California; Vernon Ansdell, Kaiser Permanente, Honolulu, Hawaii (Oct. 1997–Jan. 2003 only); Graham Brown and Joseph Torresi, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia; Gerd-Dieter Burchard, Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany; Lin H. Chen, Mount Auburn Hospital, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Bradley A. Connor, Cornell University, New York City, New York,; Jean Delmont, Philippe Parola, and Fabrice Simon, Hôpital Nord, Marseille, France; Vanessa Field, InterHealth, London, UK; Alejandra Gurtman, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York City, New York (Oct. 2002–Aug. 2005); Devon C. Hale and Stefanie S. Gelman, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; Elaine C. Jong, N. Jean Haulman, and David Roesel, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Shuzo Kanagawa, International Medical Center of Japan, Tokyo, Japan; Kevin C. Kain, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Carlos Franco-Paredes, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; Michael D. Libman and J. Dick MacLean, McGill University, Montreal, Canada; Annelies Wilder-Smith, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore; Louis Loutan and François Chappuis, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland; Michael W. Lynch, Fresno International Travel Medical Center, Fresno, California; Anne McCarthy, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; Susan McLellan, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana (Dec. 1999–Aug. 2005); Thomas B. Nutman and Amy D. Klion, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland; Prativa Pandey, CIWEC Clinic Travel Medicine Center, Kathmandu, Nepal; Watcharapong Piyaphanee and Udomsak Silachamroon, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand; R. Bradley Sack and Robin McKenzie, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland (Dec. 1997–Aug. 2007); Hiroko Sagara, Yokohama Municipal Citizen’s Hospital, Yokohama, Japan; Eli Schwartz, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel; Marc Shaw, Worldwise Travellers Health and Vaccination Centre, Auckland, New Zealand; William M. Stauffer and Patricia F. Walker, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Robert Steffen, Patricia Schlagenhauf, and Rainer Weber, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Mary E. Wilson, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Authors’ addresses: Xiaohong M. Davis and Nina Marano, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS E-03, Atlanta, GA 30333, Tel: 404-639-1757, Fax: 404-639-4441, E-mails: xdavis{at}cdc.gov, nmarano{at}cdc.gov. Susan MacDonald, Department of Primary Care, Beijing United Family Hospital and Clinics, #2 Jiang Tai Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100016, China, Tel: 8610-6433-3963, Fax: 8610-6433-3963, E-mail: susan.macdonald{at}ufh.com.cn. Sarah Borwein, Central Health Medical Practice, 3F Baskerville House, 13 Duddell Street, Central, Hong Kong SAR, China, Tel: 852-2824-0822, Fax: 852-2824-0822, E-mail: stborwein{at}netvigator.com. David O. Freedman, W. C. Gorgas Center for Geographic Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1530 3rd Avenue South, BBRB 203, Birmingham, AL 35294-2170, Tel: 205-934-1630, Fax: 205-934-5600, E-mail: freedman{at}uab.edu. Phyllis E. Kozarsky, 550 Peachtree Street, MOT 7th Floor, Atlanta, GA 30308, Tel: 404-686-5885, Fax: 404-686-4508, E-mail: pkozars{at}emory.edu. Frank von Sonnenburg, Department of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, University of Munich, Georgenstrasse 5, 80799 Munich, Germany, Tel: 49-89-2180-3830, Fax: 49-89-336038, E-mail: sonnenburg{at}lrz.uni-muenchen.de. Jay S. Keystone, Tropical Disease Unit, Toronto General Hospital, 200 Elizabeth Street 13N-1347, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 2C4, Tel: 416-340-3671, Fax: 416-340-3260, E-mail: jay.keystone{at}utoronto.ca. Poh Lian Lim, Department of Infectious Diseases, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433, Singapore, Tel: 65-6357-7919, Fax: 65-6252-4056, E-mail: poh_lian_lim{at}ttsh.com.sg.
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