Ask a doctor on the topic of General medicine

Child Swine Flu

October 26, 2009 | 15,00 EUR | answered by Dr. med. Susanne Plotz

Dear expert! We are planning to travel during the Christmas holidays. I would like to know which countries we can travel to with our little one without an increased risk of contracting swine flu?! Thank you in advance!

Dr. med. Susanne Plotz

Dear Questioner,

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the swine flu a pandemic. This means that the disease is spreading worldwide and is not stopping in any country. This is because the swine flu is much more contagious than the normal flu, and people are constantly traveling around the globe nowadays.

The following link http://flutracker.rhizalabs.com/flu/gmap.html provides an overview of the current spread. You can see that the virus has already caused illnesses on all continents. And since it continues to spread, it can of course also occur in areas that are not currently "affected." Unfortunately, I cannot recommend a specific country for travel. However, what I can recommend (and this is also advised by all experts) is to have your child vaccinated.

I hope I could help you a bit and wish you all the best!

Warm regards,
Susanne Plotz