The management of autoimmune, inflammatory diseases has been revolutionized by biologic therapies. A beneficial consequence of better disease control is that more patients are well enough to travel the world. There is now a class of traveller, the significantly immunosuppressed person with autoimmune disease, with specific risks and requirements. This review introduces the concept of the pre-travel risk assessment and discusses the major vaccine-preventable and non-vaccine-preventable travel-associated infections. The challenges and controversies around vaccination and immunosuppression are reviewed with advice for clinical practice.
Keywords: autoimmune disease; immunosuppressed travellers; immunosuppression; targeted therapies; travel medicine; travel risk assessment; travel vaccines; travel-related infections; vaccine responses; visiting friends and relatives.
© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology.