I am a recreational/individual traveler

Travel has never been as easy as it is today: a safari in Kenya, a week of shopping in Thailand, a weekend of trekking in the Bihar mountains, Transylvania, a rowing boat trip in the Danube delta. Our Center’s mission is to make sure you return home full of wonderful memories, photos, experiences – and in good health. We help you in everything with our advice to avoid ruining your vacation with a hospital stay for diarrhea or febrile disease. imMed Travel Medicine and Vaccination Center provides a comprehensive, personally tailored service, above and beyond ordinary manager screening packages, based on individual risk assessment, at the highest standard of quality available in Hungary.

Vaccination and chemical prophylaxis (drug-based prevention)

With almost no exception, travelers to all international – and even inland Hungary – destinations are advised to get vaccination against type A infectious hepatitis and typhoid fever, in any job or profession, because age specific mandatory vaccines provide no protection at all against these. In most Central African, Central and South American countries, yellow fever vaccination is either mandatory or recommended; similarly, protection against malaria is also advisable.

Travelers are typically advised to book an appointment with our outpatient offices 4 to 6 weeks before departure, but for more adventurous projects (trekking, mountaineering, sports events), we recommend a visit to our outpatient service 8 to 10 weeks beforehand. There are destinations with which it makes sense to come in for an urgent visit as few as one or two days before travel and get a minimum level of protection before departure.

Post-travel follow-up (screening) examinations

Generally, it is not necessary to undergo screening or follow-up tests upon returning from a trip unless you experience unusual complaints or symptoms after your arrival back home. A number of tropical infectious or sexually transmitted diseases have incubation periods of many weeks, possibly even months. For your peace of mind knowing that you are not an infectious risk to your children or other family members, it is possible to verify, for a select group of frequent diseases, that you are not in the incubation period of an infection. That is where we can help by giving you advice based on your travel events or post-exposure medicinal treatment.

If you require, we put together your travel pharmacy specifically to your planned destination.


I am a business traveler

More and more Debrecen-based business employees, university teachers, athletes, and employees of businesses with international contacts find it important to spend some period of time on location with a foreign partner. Local government workers and politicians also embark on travel more and more frequently, expanding the field for business cooperation.

For employers, paying extra attention to occupational medicine related aspects may become a special highlight when it comes to ensuring that their employees spend their foreign study trips or business negotiation assignments in a good state of health, fully able to work, enjoying top level immunological protection. Such preventive measures are often a way to avoid the unpleasant consequences of occupational accidents and subsequent liability suits for damages. For these purposes, our company offers the following travel medicine services:

Teaching seminars

Our physicians and professional staff deliver on-site group training at the client company to employees being sent abroad or new hires on themes including health risks associated with foreign job assignments, how to avoid such risks; sharp object injuries, needle pricks; avoidable infectious diseases; miscellaneous other job-related risks; and the most frequently occurring infectious diseases.

Medical screening tests and issue of certificates before travel

Before departure, it is important that workers be capable of performing their tasks abroad both from a mental and a physical point of view. Many countries set entry conditions on foreigners and prescribe laboratory test-based immunity profiling for, and a certificate thereof to be held by, foreign workers. In a framework of group screening tests, it is possible to run immunity assessments based on blood samples.

Medical screening tests after travel

A number of tropical infectious or occupational diseases only cause complaints or symptoms weeks, months, even years after foreign travel; in some of these cases, even medicinal treatment is useless at that point. We possess the necessary facilities in our center to run follow-up tests upon arrival back home; these either exclude the presence of certain infectious diseases with a high confidence or open the road for medicinal treatment. The safest approach is to undergo pre-travel and post-travel medical examinations in a combined fashion.

Workplace programs

In cooperation with our partners, we contribute to the assessment of workplace risk levels, and work with the partner’s occupational medicine provider to plan the company’s own health care and vaccination strategy as well as infection control and hygiene programs.


I am interested in vaccination for my child

Children in this country are currently the age group that is best immunized, most widely receiving medical care, and best covered by disease screening control. Hungary’s public vaccination system is one of Europe’s best; any related fears and concerns are groundless and lack all scientific rationale. The list of vaccines on the age-specific mandatory panel continues to change and grow; this, however, means that there are many age groups that have not yet received vaccines against infectious meningitis, pneumonia, chicken pox, human papillomavirus (HPV), or the type B hepatitis vaccine which used to be given non-mandatorily.

Children with a history of incomplete vaccination coming from third-world countries or endemic areas (western counties of Romania, Ukraine) are often present in child communities. Many children suffer from a variety of allergies which might be important to investigate. When it comes to travel, children are in fact more frequently infected than adults because hand disinfection skills at their age are lacking and they are more prone to dehydration.

Our program targeted at children includes immunity assessment by laboratory methods, replacement of missing vaccination, and supplementary vaccination to make sure your children can avoid hospitalization during their stay in a foreign country. Families will appreciate the fact that children and adult members are cared for in the same place at the same time.


I am about to go on a student exchange program/foreign study trip

There is an increasing trend of our children spending years or months abroad during their high school or university studies. Many countries require a certified list of received home country vaccinations for entry; it is also possible that the destination is an area where home country vaccines offer no protection (no immunity against yellow fever, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, etc.). Student dormitory communities and boarding institutions might face a higher frequency of epidemic meningitis, measles, and chicken pox, against which the 10 to 18-year-old age bracket does not always possess immunity. Family doctors and pediatricians are not necessarily able to run adequate laboratory tests in these cases and they lack the requisite experience for the diagnosis and treatment of these infectious diseases because they very seldom or never encounter such cases in their practice.

Screening tests before and after travel

It is highly recommended that screening tests both before and after travel be run on children. Some of the tests are financed ty health insurance; readings and findings are evaluated and interpreted by our specifically trained medical specialists in immunology and infectology, which comes at a charge.


I work for an aid organization/do charity work abroad

As a result of Hungarian people’s helpfulness and willingness to assist, many church and civil organizations, rescue services work in remote, exotic locations, third-world countries, in areas struck by epidemics or disaster. It is with those people in mind that we composed our group seminars package and pre- or post-travel medical screening tests. We offer personalized vaccination plans to aid workers with the specifics of the mission in mind.


My job requires me to be vaccinated

Compared to the average person, people employed in the food processing industry, children’s education institutions, health care workers, water management professionals, animal care workers, and aviation industry staff are exposed to a less typical or relatively wider set of health risks. Company workers who are frequently in contact with other people are facing greater-than-average risks. There are many ways in which such people can be protected, but these approaches are often unknown even to medical professionals who are thus not fully competent when it comes to ensuring comprehensive protection. It is a fact that the greatest achievement of modern medicine is the development and use of vaccines and the resulting disease prevention. A number of workplace/occupational accidents demand immediate medical intervention where active immunization is required without delay (vaccination e.g. tetanus, hepatitis B etc., starting medicinal treatment).

Running the screening and immunological tests offered by imMed is not only in the employer’s interest: it is also worth doing, before starting on a new job position, from an employee’s point of view. Many lawsuits for damages would take a different turn if people possessed such information at the right time.


I am planning a pregnancy/currently pregnant/receiving IVF treatment

When planning a pregnancy, it is important that both parents receive all currently available vaccines because certain infectious diseases may often cause very serious pathological changes during pregnancy, including potential harm to the unborn baby which manifests after birth.

If you are about to receive IVF treatment, you are advised to think ahead. A simple blood draw is all it takes to find out what infections you have undergone in the past. In light of the results, we can establish whether you need any vaccination. If you do, we will draw up a vaccination plan and ensure the mother’s and the baby’s protection against potential infections.


I am a cancer patient/suffer from acquired or hereditary immune deficiency

Patients recently diagnosed with neoplastic diseases are strongly advised to have their infectious disease history, pathogen carrier status, and cellular and molecular immune system functionality ascertained by undergoing a laboratory investigation (serological tests) so that their tumor suppression therapy can be adequately planned. Later, all cancer patients are recommended to receive repeat injections of routine vaccines or, for those without prior immunization, have a vaccination plan prepared and receive the listed vaccines prior to cancer treatment if possible.

Why is this necessary?

Available types of cancer treatment (radiation therapy, chemotherapy, various biological therapies) may cause side effects such as a partial, temporary destruction of the intestinal flora, secondary immunodeficiency, and immunocompromised states, which promote the re-emergence of dormant infections and render the exhausted body susceptible to infections.

What diseases are associated with a reduced function of the immune system, thus greater susceptibility to infections, which also puts family members living in the same household with the patient at risk?
  • autoimmune diseases,
  • rheumatoid arthritis,
  • gout,
  • psoriasis,
  • severe renal insufficiency,
  • diseases requiring dialysis,
  • severe liver diseases (hepatic cirrhosis),
  • infectious hepatitis.

Our immunology specialists will prepare a personalized vaccination plan for those affected.


I need a group appointment

Our center offers reduced pricing schemes on health-related consultation and preparedness sessions before travel for groups, school classes, and sports teams:

  • a discount (10%) on consultation fees for groups of more than 10 persons
  • on-site group consultation on the client’s premises or in their occupational medical office for groups of more than 25 persons
  • Group counseling, patient safety advice
  • Group seminars for employees on foreign assignments
  • Medical screening tests and consultations before travel
  • Health programs specific to client’s institution
  • Post-travel medical screening tests if required


I need a screening test
With a screening test, simply a single blood draw is all it takes to find out what infections you have already had. In light of the results, we can establish whether you need any vaccination.
A szűrés tünet- és panaszmentes személyek egyszeri vagy inkább időnkénti vizsgálatát jelenti, amit abból a célból végeznek, hogy a még rejtett betegségek fennállásának valószínűségét kizárják, vagy éppen megerősítsék annak valószínűségét. A szűrővizsgálatokról általában elmondható, hogy magukat (legtöbbször) egészségesnek tartó, tünet- és panaszmentes személyek vizsgálata történik.

Részletek: http://www.webbeteg.hu/cikkek/egeszseges/19793/lakossagi-szurovizsgalatok-mikor-hol-hogyan
A szűrés tünet- és panaszmentes személyek egyszeri vagy inkább időnkénti vizsgálatát jelenti, amit abból a célból végeznek, hogy a még rejtett betegségek fennállásának valószínűségét kizárják, vagy éppen megerősítsék annak valószínűségét. A szűrővizsgálatokról általában elmondható, hogy magukat (legtöbbször) egészségesnek tartó, tünet- és panaszmentes személyek vizsgálata történik.

Részletek: http://www.webbeteg.hu/cikkek/egeszseges/19793/lakossagi-szurovizsgalatok-mikor-hol-hogyan

I am interested in a campaign vaccine (e.g. influenza)

In addition to continuously available vaccines, there exist vaccines that are strictly seasonal; these include what we call campaign vaccines. A typical example would be vaccination against influenza. A vaccination campaign can ensure an adequate level of immunity for a community within a short period of time. In a vaccination campaign, immunity is provided by annually selected vaccines specific to each season’s own prevalent viruses, which can be different from year to year (e.g. vaccination against H1N1).