(April 10, 2026) – Travel history is a vital tool when patients seek care, especially when the illness is unknown. However, frontline team members or clinicians often forget to ask for it, or if they do, they are unsure how to use the travel information. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment's Epidemiology and Informatics team has developed several tools on the Travel and Health page of their website. Recently released is a Global Infectious Disease Events Dashboard. In the dashboard, one can select a country or U.S. state, depending on the travel history, and information such as disease events, respiratory virus surveillance, endemic diseases and overall events will be provided for that location. The upcoming FIFA World Cup 26™ may be the motivation for tools such as this, but they are valuable now and beyond the upcoming tournament.
Check out the page, dashboard and the many other tools available from KDHE.
--Larry Van Der Wege