Travel Medicine

Both travel medicine and international medicine are interesting offshoots of infectious disease, and we don't get much exposure. Indeed, I'm not sure what vaccinations most travelers get, and I'm easily stymied when I get asked what diseases are particular or endemic to a specific country. But the more I learn about exotic foreign diseases, the more fun it is to ponder a patient's travel history and guess whether it's related to a diagnosis or not. Especially in San Francisco with such a rich immigrant population, knowing one's geography and associated parasites, fungi, and worms really helps.

In the same way, infectious disease histories sometimes focus on details that I otherwise skip over. The infectious disease doctor likes to know about a patient's pets (or animal contacts) and the specifics of their occupation. Activities that may not immediately seem relevant often reveal an unexpected exposure or risk factor. In this way, infectious disease sometimes is that quintessential differential diagnosis specialty where one's prowess at detective work can make all the difference.