From India to Peru, from Kenya to China—no matter where your travels may take you, Northwestern Medicine can help you stay healthy along the way.

By utilizing guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), our specially trained staff help travelers ages 6 and up prepare for and enjoy a safe and healthy journey. It’s one way to help ensure that the memory of your trip is a happy one.

Our experienced clinical staff includes registered nurses with special training and expertise in travel medicine. They provide useful information based on experience and access to extensive travel health databases.

Why choose Northwestern Medicine for travel medicine?

At Northwestern Medicine, you’ll get expert advice from Travel Medicine specialists who are board-certified in infectious diseases and have the latest information on health conditions and concerns around the globe.

The Travel Medicine team will tailor services specifically to your current health, the countries you’ll visit and the activities you hope to enjoy while you’re away from home.

Customized health consultations

Through computerized access to the CDC, the World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department, our nurses provide a comprehensive consultation for travelers before immunizations are administered and prescriptions are written. Consultations are customized according to your itinerary, planned activities, medical consideration and history.

Consultations include:

• Preventive hygiene practices
• Potential immunization side effects
• Review of relevant health conditions
• Prescription instructions
• General travel information

Travel Medicine’s scope

Your Travel Medicine specialist picks up where your family physician leaves off when you plan to travel abroad. The Travel Medicine team provides vaccinations against infectious diseases that are still prevalent in developing or tropical countries, as well as detailed information about precautions to take to stay healthy while you’re away. Services include:

• Food/water precautions: Familiarize yourself with foods and beverages to avoid, as well as medications to pack that might not be readily available when you travel overseas.
• Insect precautions: Learn how to protect yourself from the many insect-borne diseases still prevalent abroad.
• Country-specific information: Get travel alerts, crime information, embassy locations and resources for medical care in the countries you’ll be visiting.
• Specific health conditions: Learn what special precautions you need to take with conditions such as diabetes, pregnancy, and heart or lung conditions.
• Traveling with children: Get tips for safe travel, items to bring from home and activities to avoid, such as swimming in fresh water or visiting farms.

Immunizations

We offer a variety of routine and travel-related immunizations for preventable diseases transmitted through the air, by mosquitoes, in food and water, and in blood and bodily fluids. Once the appropriate immunizations have been administered, travelers are given a Certificate of Vaccination, which is necessary for entry into many foreign countries.

We offer the following travel-related immunizations:

• Yellow fever (Note: our Streeterville location is a federally designated yellow fever immunization sites.)
• Japanese encephalitis
• Typhoid
• Polio
• Hepatitis A/B (Twinrix©)
• Meningitis
• Rabies

We also provide prescriptions for prevention of:

• Malaria
• Traveler's diarrhea
• Motion sickness
• Altitude sickness
• Leptospirosis from freshwater

In addition to the travel-related vaccines above, we also offer the following routine immunizations:

• Diphtheria Tetanus (TD)
• Diphtheria Tetanus/Pertussis (Tdap)
• Gardasil HPV
• Hep A-Hep B combo (Twinrix)
• Hepatitis A vaccine
• Hepatitis B vaccine (Energix, Adult)
• Hepatitis B vaccine (immunocompromised)
• Hepatitis B vaccine (Hepsilav-B)
• HIB (Haemophilus Influenza Type B)
• Influenza vaccine
• High Dose influenza
• MemB
• MMR vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella)
• Pneumococcal vaccine (Prevnar 13)
• Pneumococcal vaccine (Prevnar 20)
• Pneumococcal vaccine (Prevnar 23)
• Shingrix
• Varicella vaccine

For more information or to schedule an appointment, please contact the clinic at 312.926.3155.

Note: Immunity can take at least 10-14 days to develop. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that you schedule your appointment four to six weeks before your departure, if possible.

Insurance

Please check with your insurance carrier to find out if Travel Medicine services are covered by your insurance.

Please see "Good Faith Estimate Form" in Related Resources section below for pricing and CPT codes.