Physician-authored guides on vaccines, medications, and staying healthy abroad.
Cipro vs azithromycin for traveler's diarrhea — our clinical team breaks down dosing, resistance patterns, side effects, and which antibiotic we prescribe by destination.
Belgium requires no vaccines for entry and has no malaria, yellow fever, or dengue risk. CDC recommends routine immunizations, hepatitis A, and consideration of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) vaccination for extended outdoor time in the Ardennes forests. A 2026 case report in the journal Viruses documents Belgium's first confirmed household TBE cluster, a couple who likely caught the virus from unpasteurized milk and goat cheese rather than a tick bite, a reminder that Belgium's TBE risk, first confirmed in a human only in 2020, is probably underdiagnosed. Measles is also circulating: ECDC has logged 14 Belgian cases in a recent 12-month stretch as outbreaks continue across the EU. The US State Department rates Belgium Level 2 for crime, terrorism, and unrest, and Belgian hospitals bill US tourists directly since there is no reciprocal healthcare coverage. Start your visit on Wandr and we will help you sort out what this trip actually needs.
Denmark requires no special travel vaccines and has no malaria, yellow fever, or dengue risk. CDC recommends only that travelers stay current on routine immunizations, especially MMR, given rising measles cases across Europe. The real story is a tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) focus that Denmark's Statens Serum Institut confirms is spreading beyond Bornholm island into North Zealand forests near Copenhagen, with 22 cases detected nationally in 2024. Danish hospitals do not treat US tourists for free: there is no reciprocal healthcare agreement, and emergency visits and hospital stays are billed directly. As a physician associate, my advice for Denmark is simple: skip the vaccine anxiety, get real medical and evacuation insurance, respect the North Sea's rip currents, and learn Copenhagen's bike lane rules before you rent a bike.
