Travel Medicine with Dr. Stuart RoseTravmed.com supplies travelers with vital information and products

By Danielle Aihini

Malaria in western Ethiopia, Hepatitis A in Mexico, yellow fever in Argentina–Dr. Stuart Rose has seen it all.

With his website travmed.com up and running, visit travmed.com and read all of Dr. Stuart Rose’s up-to-date travel medicine information and data. Rose combines his love for travel with his desire to help people prevent disease before they venture to another country.

In 1989 he wrote the first edition of his International Travel Health Guide, a collection of information about tropical and infectious diseases and country by country disease risks which he updates annually. You can find the most updated edition for free on his website.

Rose meets with patients weekly to “review itinerary and counsel them about staying healthy by preventing insect bites, drinking safe water, taking pills to prevent malaria and what to do if they get sick” among other services. “I tell all of them, ‘Wear your seatbelt–if there is one!’” he said.

A Fully Stocked Store

Above the clinic, patients will find a store supplied with everything from adaptor plugs to splinter and tick removal to water purifiers. These products are also available on his easy-to-navigate website. Looking for blister pads before hiking the Himalayas in Nepal? Visit traveled.com! Need a headlamp before pitching a tent in the Sahara Desert? Travmed has it.

With years of experience after studying at Columbia’s medical school, Rose has seen firsthand the medical disasters that can occur abroad when travelers wished they had known the essential medical information before their departures. In one case, he saw a woman in the hospital after contracting Hepatitis A after a brief trip to Brazil. “She was extremely jaundiced (yellow all over).” The recovery was lengthy, he said, but the disease can be 100 percent prevented with the vaccine.

Altitude Sickness

During a skiing trip in New Mexico, Rose’s wife suffered altitude illness at 9,200 feet. Some people develop the symptoms at altitudes over 8,000 feet, according to Rose, and because they were not equipped with Diamox, a drug that stimulates respiration, their only option for treatment was descent.

A recent client called to thank Rose for advising him to buy an air ambulance evacuation policy from International SOS before his trip on a boat in the Caribbean. While traveling he developed a strangulated inguinal hernia, in simpler terms, a belly button hernia.

His condition required emergency evacuation to The Grenadines where he underwent immediate surgery before he was flown to Florida where he was treated for three weeks for sepsis and severe liver damage, according to Rose.

At the clinic, Rose offers the policy at a discount to all of his patients. “He barely survived and most likely would have died without having the access number to call SOS for immediate rescue,” said Rose. His patient even gave the doctor a conch he found abroad, a token of his appreciation.

Measles in the US

Dr. Rose hopes to erase some of the misconceptions in travel medicine. He informs travelers of information including how the United States is currently experiencing the highest number of measles cases since 1999 and that infants six to 11 months old should have at least one dose of the measles vaccine.

All of this vital information is available on his website along with destination guides, health guides, blogs, and a long list of traveler’s information.

Don’t hesitate to visit travmed.com or his Northampton clinic before your next humanitarian trip to Africa, the long-awaited vacation to the Bahamas or a business trip to Colombia. Dr. Stuart Rose has the answers.

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