Before You Fly: Portuguese Experts Outline 2024 Travel Health Risks

Long-haul tickets have made their way back into many Portuguese wallets, but alongside the thrill of open borders comes a checklist that now stretches well beyond passport validity. In Porto this week, specialists in medicina do viajante gathered to take stock of the new hazards that lurk between boarding and baggage reclaim—and to agree on practical fixes Portuguese residents can adopt before the next getaway.

A changing crowd at Lisbon Airport

Frequent-flier programmes once dominated by business consultants are now shared with back-packing pensioners, solo female explorers, remote-working Gen-Z coders and families splitting semesters between Aveiro and Bali. According to the National Statistics Institute, residents logged 3.2 million outbound trips in 2023, a surge of 21.5% on the previous year, and 2024 numbers look set to top even that. The Sociedade Portuguesa de Medicina do Viajante (SPMV) insists that each traveller type carries distinct health gaps, from incomplete vaccine schedules to forgotten insurance riders. For the organisation’s president, Gabriela Saldanha, the priority is “expanding health literacy without spooking anyone,” a balancing act she calls harder than booking a seat in high season.

Invisible souvenirs: pathogens that tag along

The conference’s headline message is blunt: every flight can return with unwelcome passengers. Europe approached 1.4 billion tourist arrivals in 2024, bringing with it a spike in dengue imports, drug-resistant malaria cases and the perennial traveller’s diarrhoea. Portuguese clinics already report a rise in post-safari fevers, skin rashes from tropical fungi and even jet-lag-triggered anxiety disorders. Experts urged would-be globetrotters to schedule a pre-trip consultation 4-8 weeks out, giving time for boosters such as yellow fever, typhoid or the new meningococcal B shot now stocked at select centros de vacinação.

Madeira: paradise under mosquito watch

Islanders are used to Atlantic gales, yet their biggest worry of 2025 may weigh no more than a raindrop: Aedes aegypti, the mosquito behind dengue, Zika and chikungunya. Trapping grids covering 333 sites in Funchal have already flagged two locally acquired dengue infections this year. Crews perform door-to-door inspections, while the online map “NÃO! MOSQUITO” invites residents and tourists to log sightings on their phones. Warmer nights lengthening into October could turn Madeira—and eventually parts of the Algarve—into year-round breeding zones if vigilance falters, entomologists warned.

Cruise liners: clinics with a captain

Portugal’s deep-water terminals processed a record number of berths last season, effectively parking a floating city off Leixões every weekend. SPMV panels dissected outbreaks of norovirus, influenza A and, more recently, GII-17 stomach bugs that can sweep a ship before the first port call. Current protocols require pre-boarding health questionnaires, daily chlorine checks of potable water, an on-board isolation ward and real-time symptom dashboards shared with port health teams. Maritime officers stressed that a single lapse—say, insufficient hand-sanitiser stations—can undo an entire voyage’s safety planning.

Calling the clinic: timing is everything

Portuguese travellers are famous among doctors for last-minute appointments. Data presented in Porto show that 7 in 10 patients seek advice less than ten days before take-off, leaving no window for multi-dose vaccines or for adjusting antimalarial regimens. Clinicians recommend an early chat about repellents with 30% DEET, a mini-pharmacy of rehydration salts, and the often-ignored need for mental-health support during solo travel. Saldanha’s team is piloting quick-fire webinars aimed at first-time Erasmus students, digital-nomad visa holders and over-65 volunteers heading to lusophone Africa.

Towards a culture of informed wandering

The SPMV’s tenth-anniversary gathering closed with a pledge to weave risk-communication skills into every GP’s repertoire, ensuring advice lands as clearly as a boarding announcement. Plans include a new scientific prize for 2025, cross-border data sharing on vector-borne threats, and partnerships with travel-insurance providers so that clinical alerts appear alongside price quotes. For people in Portugal pencilling in an autumn break, the takeaway is straightforward: book the medical appointment the same day you book the flight, skim the DGS travel pages as religiously as weather apps, and remember that the best holiday souvenir is sometimes nothing at all.