Common Infectious Diseases

Kevin Pottie; Vincent Girard

doi:10.1016/j.pop.2020.11.002

Common Infectious Diseases

Prim Care. 2021 Mar;48(1):45-55. doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2020.11.002. Epub 2020 Dec 19.

Authors

Kevin Pottie¹, Vincent Girard²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Family Medicine, School of Epidemiology Public Health and Preventive Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: kpottie@uottawa.ca.
² University of Ottawa, 600 Peter Morand Crescent #201, Ottawa, ON K1G 5Z3, Canada.

PMID: 33516423
DOI: 10.1016/j.pop.2020.11.002

Abstract

The initial assessment of immigrant and refugee patients, including which health concerns to address and which infectious diseases may benefit from early screening, may present challenges to clinicians. Evidence-based research suggests certain infectious diseases should be screened for and treated in refugees. Overseas refugee preemptive treatment programs have reduced the burden of some diseases but have not removed the value of in-country screening programs. This article provides discussion of a series of common tropical and infectious diseases providing refugee and geographic contexts and links to international resources that have been developed to improve the care of newly arriving immigrants and refugees.

Keywords: HIV; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis C; Immigrants; Infectious diseases; Intestinal parasites; Refugees; Tuberculosis.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Communicable Diseases / diagnosis*
Communicable Diseases / ethnology*
Emigrants and Immigrants*
Humans
Mass Screening / organization & administration*
Mass Screening / standards
Practice Guidelines as Topic
Refugees*
United States / epidemiology