Background: Forward planning and preventative measures before travelling can significantly reduce the risk of\r\nmany vaccine preventable travel-related infectious diseases. Higher education students may be at an increased risk\r\nof importing infectious disease as many undertake multiple visits to regions with higher infectious disease\r\nendemicity. Little is known about the health behaviours of domestic or international university students, particularly\r\nstudents from low resource countries who travel to high-resource countries for education. This study aimed to\r\nassess travel-associated health risks and preventative behaviours in a sample of both domestic and international\r\nuniversity students in Australia.\r\nMethods: In 2010, a 28 item self-administered online survey was distributed to students enrolled at the University\r\nof New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Multiple methods of distributing links to the online survey were utilised.\r\nThe survey examined the international travel history, travel intentions, infection control behaviours and selfreported\r\nvaccination history.\r\nResults: A total of 1663 respondents completed the online survey, 22.1% were international students and 83.9%\r\nwere enrolled at an undergraduate level. Half had travelled internationally in the previous 12 months, with 69% of\r\nthose travelling only once during that time with no difference in travel from Australia between domestic and\r\ninternational students (p = 0.8). Uptake of pre-travel health advice was low overall with 68% of respondents\r\nreporting they had not sought any advice from a health professional prior to their last international trip. Domestic\r\nstudents were more likely to report uptake of a range of preventative travel health measures compared to\r\ninternational students, including diarrhoeal medication, insect repellent, food avoidance and condoms (P < 0.0001).\r\nOverall, students reported low risk perception of travel threats and a low corresponding concern for these threats.\r\nConclusions: Our study highlights the need to educate students about the risk associated with travel and improve\r\npreventative health-seeking and uptake of precautionary health measures in this highly mobile young adult\r\npopulation. Although immunisation is not an entry requirement to study at Universities in Australia, large tertiary\r\ninstitutions provide an opportunity to engage with young adults on the importance of travel health and provision\r\nof vaccines required for travel, including missed childhood vaccines.
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