Welcome to Imported Skin Diseases

The world has developed into a global village in which people travel daily from continent to continent. Infectious diseases may travel the same way. Someone with an infection acquired under ‘tropical’ conditions abroad, may visit the health services in Europe or North America within 24 hours of his or her departure from the country visited.

There are two main reasons why patients with ‘tropical or exotic skin diseases’ have been seen more frequently in recent years. In the first place, in affluent societies leisure time is increasing, and more and more people, including those in the older age groups, take holidays in far-off places. More and more adventure holidays are taken to those places, where the risk of acquiring a disease is much greater than in a more protected environment. In the second place, there are minority immigrant groups in most western countries who originate from other continents. These people may regularly visit their families in their country of origin and acquire a skin disease there. They may also present months or years after settling in their new home country.

This book was written and illustrated for health professionals in order to help them in the diagnosis and management of patients with skin diseases acquired in a different, often tropical, environment.
A wide spectrum of imported skin diseases, most of them infectious in origin, is covered. Both sexually transmitted infections and dermatological diseases are discussed.

Skin signs may provide clues to the diagnosis of sometimes life-threatening systemic infections; and should therefore be recognized as soon as possible by the attending physician. As travel these days is often not only terrestrial but also involves aqueous exposure in oceans or rivers, a chapter on aquatic skin disorders is included.