5 Things to Know About CDC Yellow Book 2024

For over 50 years, CDC Yellow Book: Health Information for International Travel has provided expert guidance on how to remain healthy and safe during international travel. Comprehensively revised, CDC Yellow Book 2024 includes both new and updated content. It compiles the US government's most current international travel health information, including pretravel vaccine recommendations; destination-specific health advice; and easy-to-reference maps, tables, charts, and checklists. As international travel resumes and rebounds to pre-pandemic levels, CDC Yellow Book 2024 remains a trusted resource for clinicians helping prepare their patients for travel outside the United States.

Here are five things to know about CDC Yellow Book 2024.

1. Updated travel-associated disease content, format, and vaccine tables

CDC Yellow Book 2024 covers travel-associated infections and diseases, organizing content into four parts: bacterial, viral (including COVID-19 and Mpox), parasitic, and fungal. Descriptions of each infection or disease begin with a summary reference table highlighting the relevant infectious agent(s), geographic endemicity, categories of travelers at greatest risk for exposure and infection, prevention methods, and sources of diagnostic support.

Vaccine tables, including vaccine names, dosing schedules, and links to CDC and US Food and Drug Administration websites for more information, provide clinicians with a concise and easily scannable guide to help ensure that their traveling patients are current and up to date with protection against vaccine-preventable bacterial and viral infections.

2. Updated country-specific yellow fever vaccine recommendations, plus entry requirements and malaria prevention recommendations

Because clinicians often bookmark and reference yellow fever vaccine recommendations and entry requirements and malaria prevention recommendations for international travelers, the online version of CDC Yellow Book 2024 provides a user-friendly drop-down menu to access this information quickly. This chapter contains updated country-specific requirements and recommendations for yellow fever vaccine; recommendations for malaria chemoprophylaxis and other prevention information; and maps of several countries and regions showing areas where traveler prevention measures are recommended.

3. Updated medical tourism content and recommendations

With the rising globalization of healthcare, medical tourism — the term commonly used to describe international travel for the purpose of receiving medical care — continues to grow. Surveillance data indicate that millions of US residents travel internationally for medical care each year. Motivations for medical tourism differ from person to person. No matter the destination or the reason, informing travelers of the risks and potential complications associated with medical care and surgical procedures received outside the United States (and making plans in advance for dealing with them upon their return) is critical to help ensure the best possible outcomes.

4. New and updated content on bringing animals and animal products into the United States

Country- and carrier-specific requirements and recommendations govern international travel with service animals or pets. Any animal, including service and emotional support animals, that leaves the United States must meet all entry requirements to reenter the United States, even if the animal previously lived in the United States. Additionally, CDC has restrictions for animals and animal products that could pose a public health threat. This chapter provides both new and updated guidance on advising patients traveling with animals or animal products.

5. New content on substance use and substance use disorder considerations

In 2020, 40.3 million people aged 12 or older in the United States (14.5% of this population) reportedly had a substance use disorder in the previous year. Travelers with a substance use disorder should be aware of the policies and risks associated with substance use in other countries. CDC Yellow Book 2024 provides key information to discuss with your patients (eg, country- and state-level policies where cannabis use is legal or international policies where the legal drinking age is lower than in the United States) and risks to inform your patients about (eg, adaptation to different climates, elevations, time zones).

Clinicians play an important role in informing travelers on how to best protect themselves while traveling internationally. The 2024 edition provides trusted, user-friendly information at clinicians' fingertips.

CDC Yellow Book 2024 is now available for purchase in hard copy from Oxford University Press and available for free online at www.cdc.gov/yellowbook.

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