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Notice to Readers: New Definitions for Travel Notices Regarding
Diseases Abroad
The Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Travelers' Health, National Center for Infectious Diseases,
is announcing new, scalable definitions for travel notices about disease occurrences abroad. The purpose is to refine
the announcements so they are more easily understood by international travelers, U.S. citizens living abroad,
health-care providers, and the general public. In addition, defining and describing levels of risk will clarify the need for travelers to take recommended preventive measures.
From a public health perspective, scalable definitions will enhance the usefulness of the travel notices, enabling them to
be tailored readily in response to events and circumstances. A complete description of the definitions and criteria for issuing
and removing travel notices at each of the four levels is available at
http://www.cdc.gov/travel.
The new notices are as follows:
In the News. This notice provides information about sporadic cases of disease or an occurrence of disease of public
health concern affecting a traveler or travel destination. At this level, the risk for an individual traveler does not differ from the usual risk in that area.
Outbreak Notice. Information is provided regarding a disease outbreak in a limited geographic area or setting. The risk
for travelers is defined and limited, and the notice reminds travelers about standard or enhanced travel recommendations such as vaccination.
Travel Health Precaution. Specific information is provided to travelers regarding a disease outbreak of greater scope
and over a larger geographic area, aimed at reducing the risk for infection. This precaution also provides guidance to
travelers about what to do if they become ill while in the area. At this level, CDC does not recommend against travel to a specific area, but might recommend limiting exposure to a defined setting (e.g., poultry farms or health-care facilities).
Travel Health Warning. A recommendation is issued against nonessential travel to an area because a disease of public
health concern is expanding beyond the locales or populations that were affected initially. The purpose of a travel warning is to reduce the volume of traffic to affected areas, limiting the risk for spreading the disease to unaffected areas.
Use of trade names and commercial sources is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services.References to non-CDC sites on the Internet are
provided as a service to MMWR readers and do not constitute or imply
endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is not responsible for the content
of pages found at these sites. URL addresses listed in MMWR were current as of
the date of publication.
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