Éric Caumes

Also, my interest in IDs started when I was a 3rd year student at the school of medicine in Paris. The University where I was trained was at that time famous for including the most important ID Teaching Hospital in France. It closed in 1988 after the disappearance of historical IDs such as tetanus, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, whooping cough and measles. It is a pity to see some of these diseases re-emerging because a proactive minority is questioning the importance of vaccinations.

As travelers and migrants were the main purveyors of IDs and tropical diseases, I became naturally interested in travel medicine. Then my knowledge of travel and my experience of countries outside the classical former French colonies made me involved in travel and migration medicine. I have always kept an eye on both sides. Roughly speaking, in my department outward patients were travelers whereas hospitalized patients were migrants mostly from Africa. And I saw both.

Describe your current role and key areas of focus.
I am specialized in dermatology and infectious and tropical diseases. As a Professor of ID, I spent most of my career teaching students, seeing patients and doing research. I have co-authored over 500 articles. My main field of research was skin infections, imported diseases, STI, tuberculosis and Lyme disease. But my career started with AIDS and ended with Covid-19. In addition, in 1984 I worked in Nepal, and since then I have been teaching in various places worldwide (Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Cuba, Mali, Mauritania).

I have written a dozen books related to travel medicine, skin infections and tropical medicine. I have been the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Travel Medicine. At the end of my career, I authored three consecutive books (all in French) that summarize well my last topics of interest: “Health Emergency” (2020), about the management of Covid 19 crisis in France, and the past Public Health Emergencies, “Lyme Disease, reality and fantasy” (2021) and “The new dangers of sex” (2022). These books give a historical perspective because today I am increasingly interested in seeing how history repeats itself.

Since retiring from my clinical practice in 2024, I have been spending more time giving talks in various conferences worldwide and teaching overseas as a visiting professor in various universities (Galway in Ireland, Bangkok in Thailand, Alexandria in Egypt). I am doing much more outside of France than in my own country now.

What do you find most rewarding about your work?
Once retired, the most rewarding aspect of my work is the hope of making people benefit from my 35 years-long experience (1989-2024) in dermatology, STI and imported diseases. I feel honored to share all the knowledge I have acquired while seeing travelers and migrants all through my career. And it also gives me the opportunity to travel and discover.

For instance, my last reward was to give an introductory lecture at the 11th Congress of the “Italian Society of Travel Medicine and Migrations” on “STI and travel” in the beautiful city of Padova. There, I discovered the first kiss in the history of art in a fresco painted by Giotto, in 1303, in the “Chapelle De Scrovegni. For me, this coincidence illustrates well how Travel medicine is about travel and medicine.

How did you first become involved with ISTM?
I became involved with the ISTM very early in my career. I worked in Nepal in 1984. Interestingly I met with David Shlim there, and we became friends. He was director of the Ciwec clinic, and I was managing the medical center at the French embassy. We were involved in travel medicine before the specialty was created. Thus, we were doing travel medicine without knowing it. We published our experience, and I even wrote my first book (in French) entitled “Conseils médicaux aux voyageurs” when I went back to France to work as a resident in ID then in dermatology. I sent my book to Robert Steffen in Zurich. And Robert was interested in it and invited me to attend the 1st “International Conference of Travel Medicine” in Zurich in 1988.

My involvement in ISTM has thus lasted since the creation of ISTM, beginning at the 2nd Conference of the ISTM (CISTM), in Atlanta in 1991. Since then, I have not missed any meetings of the ISTM except during the Covid lockdown period which was far too busy for me as chief of the ID department in my university hospital.

What has ISTM membership meant to you—professionally or personally?
My involvement in the ISTM has gone far beyond sole membership status early.
Before 2020, I contributed to many biennial CISTMs doing numerous lectures related to dermatology in travelers and being a member of the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) of some CISTMs. In 2021, I was appointed as one of the two vice-chairmen of the SPC of the CISTM18 held in Basel, Switzerland in May 2023. In 2023, I was appointed as the chairman of the SPC of the CISTM19, which was held in New-Orleans in May 2025.

And my commitment to ISTM goes far beyond my participation to CISTMs. After years as a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Travel medicine (JTM), I was the editor in chief of the journal for 8 years (2012-2019). Today, I am the section editor for skin diseases and STIs. For two decades (2012–2024), I have been the Director of the Paris Geosentinel center. And I have also been elected as a counselor at the executive board of the ISTM (2007-2011).

What is your favorite destination or travel story?
I cannot say that I have a favorite destination. So far, I have visited approximately 70 countries worldwide, and there is something I love in most of them. But there is a subset of countries where I have traveled many times in Asia (India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Taiwan), Oceania (New Zealand), Africa (Morrocco), America (Canada, USA), and of course Europe (Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, The Netherlands).

As for my favorite travel story, I will probably keep my first overseas 3-months long travel in the USA and Canada (and a little bit of Mexico) in 1976 (the bicentennial year in the USA) at the age of 19 yo. We hitch-hiked all around North America, starting in New York City, going north to Boston, then Montreal. We went across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver. Then we went down along the West coast to San Diego via San Francisco and Los Angeles. And we traveled back to New York via Las Vegas, Santa Fe, Oklahoma City, Memphis, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Washington DC. The last part from Washington DC to New York City we were too afraid to hitch-hike through the big cities of the East coast, and we boarded a Greyhound bus. It was a great road trip during which we enjoyed the North American hospitality at its best. We got stuck on the roadside twice waiting for a ride for more than 8 hours. I will remember the names of these two places all my life, one was Brandon (Canada), the other Las Vegas (USA). Finally we stayed in New York City for two weeks, and it was a fascinating vibrant city for Rock and Roll fans at that time, with its two legendary music venues, the “Max’s Kansas City” and the “CBGB”.

What’s your “travel health must-have” when you’re on the road?
We are used to saying in France that the “Shoemakers are the worst shod.” But this does not apply to me. I am quite cautious before, during and after travel. I do as much vaccines as I can before travel. I am even vaccinated against dengue, and I will soon be vaccinated against chikungunya.

I wear socks for long journeys by car, bus or plane. And I always carry an umbrella that I also use as a parasol. My travel health kit includes a nail-clipper, earplugs, some ointments and creams (the dermatologist bias), antibiotics (the ID physician bias), antihistamines (with and without sedative properties), a pain killer, paracetamol and melatonin. The purpose is to be able to cope with the most common travel-related health problems, i.e., sleep disorders, jet lag, sun exposure, insect bites and stings, any pain, TD, respiratory tract infection and common dermatoses. I have experienced all these problems.

And of course, I always get travel insurance that covers the duration of my trip. I have been repatriated twice during my travels, once from Manilla, in the Philippines and another time from Na Trang, south Vietnam. Both were related to orthopedic problems, a knee problem after a basketball game in the Philippines in 1992 and a wrist fracture after an attack in Vietnam in 2000. Thus, my knowledge of travel health problems is quite complete. And I am not too bad at orthopedics.