When you travel, it’s likely that you’ll come across health risks – including diseases carried by insects – that you don’t see in Canada. You may need to take some precautions, like sleeping under a mosquito net, or dressing in a particular way, to avoid getting bitten.
At your travel health appointment, the pharmacist can tell you everything you need to do to avoid getting sick from an insect bite.
Vaccines against insect-borne diseases
At Canadian Travel Clinics, we can vaccinate you against some insect-borne diseases including:
We can also prescribe and supply antimalarial tablets.
To find out if you need to get vaccinated ahead of your trip abroad, make an appointment at one of our travel clinics. We can assess your risk of exposure to diseases that affect travellers and recommend vaccines and also give advice on avoiding illness on your trip abroad.
What insect-borne diseases are a risk for travellers?
Insects carry a lot of diseases, including some that are not vaccine preventable. These include:
- Chagas disease
- Lyme disease
- malaria
- plague
- Dengue fever
- sleeping sickness
Some of these diseases will have long-lasting effects that could spoil your trip abroad. They might make you sick for a long time so that you cannot do your normal daily activities after your return to Canada. So travellers should make every effort to avoid insect bites.
Mosquito-borne diseases
Mosquitoes are small flies that use their sharp mouthparts to pierce the skin of mammals – including humans – to feed on blood. They carry:
- Chikungunya fever
- Dengue fever
- filariasis
- malaria
- pogosta disease
- West Nile disease
- yellow fever
- Zika
- Oropouche virus
- Japanese encephalitis
Avoid mosquito bites by regularly applying an insect repellent containing 50% DEET. If DEET isn’t suitable for you, insect repellents containing Icaridin (Picaridin) or Eucalyptus citriodora oil are effective, too. Wear long sleeves and trousers. Mosquito bites are a risk during the day, particularly at dawn and dusk.
Tick-borne diseases
Ticks are small arachnids that live all over the world. They attach themselves to skin and feed on blood. They are vectors for:
- babesiosis
- tick-borne encephalitis
- Heartland virus
- Lyme disease
- rickettsial diseases
If you’re planning to spend time camping, hiking or working outdoors then ticks could be a risk for you.
Apply insect repellent to make yourself unappealing to ticks. Cover your arms and legs and tuck trousers into socks. Ticks often come from long grass or undergrowth, so stick to paths and avoid blazing trails.
Promptly remove any ticks you find on your body with a tick-removing tool, available from pharmacies.
Other insect-borne diseases
Other insects that carry diseases to be aware of include assassin bugs in South American and Mexico, which carry Chagas disease – learn more from Info Chagas. Fleas may carry plague in some parts of the world. The tetse fly is a vector for sleeping sickness in Sub-Saharan Africa.
It’s a good idea to listen to local advice when travelling – people who live in an area will have habits that keep them safe from insect bites.
Stay safe from insect bites while travelling
Get advice before you travel about insect vectors that you may come across on your trip abroad. Make an appointment with Canadian Travel Clinics to get bespoke health advice.