Travel medicine resources for health practitioners in Canada
Last updated: November 2025
The following is a comprehensive (though not exhaustive) list of travel medicine resources to aid, inform, and educate Canadian health practitioners providing travel medicine services. This resource list was reviewed and endorsed by the Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel.
Courses, conferences and travel medicine groups
Canada
- Alberta Association of Travel Health Professionals Symposium and General Meeting
- Annually in Canmore, Alberta
- Manitoba Travel Health Network Annual Conference
- Annually in Winnipeg, Manitoba
- McGill University Tropical Medicine course
- Hybrid (in-person and online)
- Annually in Montréal, Quebec
International
- American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting
- Annually in November in different cities in the U.S.
- Asia Pacific Travel Health Society Congress
- Biennially on even years
- Conferences of the International Society of Travel Medicine
- Biennially in different host cities
- International Society of Travel Medicine
- An update and review of the body of knowledge for the practice of travel medicine and assistance in the preparation for the certificate in travel health exam
Certification
- International Society of Travel Medicine
- Holds at least one certificate of knowledge examination each year in conjunction with the biannual conference and regional meetings
- Successful candidates are awarded a certificate attesting to proficiency in travel medicine
- American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- Holds an examination for the certificate of knowledge in clinical tropical medicine and traveller's health
- Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Offers a diploma in travel medicine
Travel medicine recommendations
- Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel (CATMAT)
- The expert advisory body that assists the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) with travel health-related advice for travellers and health care professionals
- Canadian Immunization Guide
- Developed by PHAC, using the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) and CATMAT recommendations and guidelines for all vaccines licensed for use in Canada
- This guide deals comprehensively with problematic situations such as immunizing immunosuppressed travellers
- Institut national de santé publique du Québec
French language travel health resources
Handbooks, periodicals and reports
- Canada Communicable Disease Report (CCDR)
- Travel medicine articles, including CATMAT recommendations, appear fairly often in this publication
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): Health information for international travel
- Commonly called the CDC Yellow Book in the U.S.
- World Health Organization (WHO): International travel and health
Journals
- Journal of Travel Medicine
- Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
- Subscription required
- American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
- British Medical Journal
- Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Infectious Disease Clinics of North America
- Journal of the American Medical Association
- Journal of Infection
- Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Lancet
- Lancet Infectious Diseases
- Malaria Journal
- Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
- New England Journal of Medicine
Internet travel medicine forums
- TravelMed (Listserv)
- International travel medicine email discussion forum, open to members of the International Society of Travel Medicine
Online subscription services
These online services provide detailed assistance for any travel itinerary. The user inputs itinerary and traveller information, and the site displays its recommendations regarding immunizations, malaria prophylaxis and travel advice. These resources can be very helpful for less-experienced practitioners.
- Gideon
- Primarily a tropical and infectious disease diagnostic program but includes detailed epidemiologic information on travel-related diseases
- TravaxShoreland
- A popular source of travel medicine information
- TravelHealthPro
- Clinical travel health information for U.K. healthcare practitioners
- Tropimed
- A comprehensive travel medicine database with daily updates
- UpToDate
- A subscription service that provides key clinical, drug, patient and member content to support health professionals
Books
Travel medicine
- Keystone JS, Freedman DO, Kozarsky PE, Connor BA, Northdruft HD, M Mendelson, K Leder. Travel medicine, 4th ed. Philadelphia (PA): Saunders Elsevier Inc.; 2018.
- Weiss EA. Wilderness and travel medicine: A comprehensive guide, 4th ed. Seattle, (WA):The Mountaineers Books; 2012.
- Zuckerman JN. Principles and practice of travel medicine, 2nd ed. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell; 2013.
Vaccines
- Plotkin SA, Orenstein WA, Offit PA, Edwards KM. Plotkin's Vaccines, 8th ed. China: Saunders, Elsevier Inc.; 2023.
- Zuckerman JN, Jong EC. Travelers' Vaccines, 2nd ed. Shelton (CT): People's Medical Publishing House – USA; 2010.
Traveller's diarrhea
- Ericsson C, DuPont H, Steffen R. Travelers' diarrhea, 2nd ed. Hamilton (ON): BC Decker Inc.; 2008.
Tropical disease
- Farrar J, Hotez PJ, Junghanss T, Kang G, Lalloo D, White N, Garcia PJ. Manson's tropical diseases, 24th ed. China: Saunders Elsevier Inc.; 2024.
- Guerrant RL, Walker DH, Weller PF. Tropical infectious diseases: Principles, pathogens and practice, 3rd ed. Philadelphia (PA): Saunders Elsevier Inc.; 2011.
- Schwartz E. Tropical diseases in travelers. Singapore: Blackwell Publishing; 2009.
Other
- Auerbach PS, Cushing TA, Harris NS. Wilderness medicine, 7th ed. Philadelphia (PA): Mosby Elsevier Inc.; 2016.
- Heymann DL. Control of communicable diseases manual, 21st ed. Washington (DC): American Public Health Association; 2022.
Outbreak reports and travel advisories
It is highly recommended that practitioners stay current regarding disease outbreaks of importance to travellers. The following sources provide up-to-date information that can be used in this regard. Several of the online subscription services provide regular disease outbreak and security reports.
- Disease outbreak news
- WHO, Global Alert and Response Network (GOARN)
- GeoSentinel
- A worldwide data collection and communication network associated with the International Society of Travel Medicine and the U.S. CDC
- Travel advice and advisories
- Highlights the latest updates on threats and conditions considered unsafe for Canadians around the world
- Travel health notices
- Outlines potential risks to Canadian travellers and to the Canadian public, and recommends measures that can be taken to reduce these risks
- Global Polio Eradication Initiative
- Polio updates, WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International and CDC
- Healthmap
- A map-based reporting system for outbreaks
- Meningitis Vaccine Project
- Meningococcal meningitis updates, WHO
- Weekly epidemiological record
- WHO, outbreak reports
Yellow fever
Sources of malaria recommendations
Recommendations regarding the need for chemoprophylaxis can vary widely. Familiarity with a broad set of national guidelines can provide practitioners with a wider perspective for developing recommendations and advice, in particular for itineraries associated with a low risk of malaria.
Canadian
- Canadian recommendations for the prevention and treatment of malaria, Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel
- Canada, 2019
- Guide d'intervention en santé-voyage (French only)
- Quebec, 2023, published by the Institut national de santé publique du Québec
United States
- Yellow Fever Vaccine and Malaria Prevention Information, by Country
- Published in the CDC Yellow Book in the U.S.
European
- Malaria Prevention Guidelines for Travellers from the U.K.
- United Kingdom
- Travel health recommendations for healthcare professionals
- France
- Swiss Expert Committee on Travel Medicine (French only)
- Switzerland
- Malaria prevention recommendations for travellers (French only)
- Travel tips at a glance (French only)
- Département fédéral des affaires étrangères
- New Italian guidelines for malaria prophylaxis in travellers to endemic areas
- Italy
International
Travel medicine clinics in Canada and abroad
Additional resources
- Bulletin épidémiologique hebdomadaire (French only)
- Santé publique France
- Canadian Malaria Network
- Timely medical access to artesunate or quinine for the treatment of malaria
- CanTravNet
- Canadian travel medicine clinic surveillance network
- Doctors Without Borders
- International emergency medical humanitarian organization
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
- A public health agency of the European Union
- Canada's Travelling Public Program
- Provides inspection scores for cruise ships
- Malaria Atlas Project
- Disseminates free, accurate and up-to-date information on malaria and associated topics, organized on a geographical basis
- National Reference Centre for Parasitology
- Reference diagnostic service in serology for parasitic diseases
- National Travel Health Network and Centre
- United Kingdom
- Storage and handling of immunizing agents
- Canadian Immunization Guide
- BCG World Atlas
- A database of global Bacillus Calmette–Guérin vaccination policies and practices
- TST/IGRA interpreter
- This tool estimates the risk of active tuberculosis for an adult with a tuberculin skin test reaction of ≥5mm, based on their clinical profile
- CDC Green Sheet Report
- Provides inspection scores for cruise ships, United States