Research Activities
Although Travel Medicine is a relatively new field of medicine, it is becoming increasingly more important especially in the era of globalization. More than 1000 million people travel internationally each year. Many travel medicine-related activities such as travel clinics, researches and educations are well established in the western world. But in Thailand, very limited activities have been done before.
Since the establishment of Thai Travel Clinic and Travel Medicine Research Unit in 2005, we had conducted several researches in Thai and in foreigners traveling in Thailand and Southeast Asia. We were able to publish our manuscripts in peer-reviewed international journal such as Journal of Travel Medicine, Vaccine, and American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Our selected publications are listed here. We hope that our research will help us to understand the health risk among travelers in this region. We believe that the better we understand them, the better care we could provide.
Previous MCTM Student researches
Each year, our unit could accommodate one Master degree of Clinical Tropical Medicine (MCTM) student to conduct a research in travel medicine related field. Here are the list of our recent successful students and their research titles.
2013/14 Dr. Anastasia Putri from Indonesia (Manuscript in preparation)
Usefulness of tourniquet test for diagnosing dengue infection
2011/12 Dr. Nils Kaehler from Germany (Published)
Sexual behaviour of foreign backpackers in Khao San Road area, Bangkok, Thailand
2010/11 Dr. Wataru Kashino from Japan (Published)
Incidence of rabies exposure among Japanese expatriates and travelers in Thailand
2009/10 Dr. Dipendra Sharma from Nepal
Detection of Chikungunya Seropositivity in Thai travelers to the southern part of Thailand
2008/09 Dr. Emanuel Luttersdorfer from Austria
Seroprevalence of Dengue antibodies among foreign travelers in South East Asia
2007/08 Dr. Elsideg Ahmed Mohammed Abdelrhaman from Sudan
Emergence and clearanceof gametocyte in complicated P.falciparum malaria
Current Research activities
The research focus of our unit is on travel medicine related field. We are interested in health problems among foreigners visiting Thailand and Southeast Asia as well as the incidence and impact of health problems among Thais who are traveling either domestically or internationally. Here some of our current research.
– Incidence and spectrum of health problems among travelers to Myanmar
– Efficacy of Ipomea pes-caprae ointment as an add-on therapy in patient with jellyfish dermatitis
Research in the Residency Training in Travel Medicine Course
Our 2nd years residents in Travel Medicine have to conduct their own research in order to experience and gain the skill in research. Here are the current resident’s reserach topics.
1. Incidence of High altitude illness among Thai travelers (Dr. Akkavich Harnnavachok)
2. Compliance and reported adverse effects of malaria chemoprophylaxis among travelers (Dr. Jitfa Loorungroj)
3. Incidence of travelers’ diarrhea among adult foreign travelers in Thailand: A prospective study (Dr. Chollasap Sharma)
4. Knowledge, attitudes, practices, and self-treatment of sick international (Dr. Ranida Poksiri)
5. Health problems among Thai trekkers (Dr. Nujareenart Kuhakasemsin)
Some of our research activities and our research assistants/volunteers