MRSA

early 2004. Nevertheless, the CDC and other agencies remain alert to the possibility of a renewed outbreak in humans. More information about SARS is available on the CDC website.

COVID-19

In comparison to MERS and SARS, COVID-19—which is also caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)—is less contagious, less severe and less fatal. Nontheless, it has infected hundreds of millions of people, caused several million deaths, disrupted travel and devastated economies.

Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. More serious symptoms include difficulty breathing, persistent pain or pressure in the chest, confusion, inability to awaken or stay awake, or pale, gray or blue skin, lips or nail beds.

With safe and effective vaccines developed at an unprecedented speed, people can once again resume travel. Scientists, however, are monitoring the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Get the most current information about COVID-19 on the CDC website, cdc.gov/coronavirus.

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES

Travelers who practice high-risk sexual behaviors should be aware of their likelihood of encountering sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). This likelihood may be much higher in certain countries than in others.

AIDS is the most serious of those STDs. Currently, 147 countries report to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) about their progress in combating HIV/AIDS. Statistics from 2020 show that about 38 million people worldwide were infected with HIV; new cases continue to be reported worldwide, with 67 percent of them in sub-Saharan Africa. The worldwide prevalence rate is less than 1 percent, but the rate is more than 6 percent in Eastern and Southern Africa and 27 percent in Eswatini. In 2020 women and girls accounted for about 50 percent of all new HIV infections and for 63 percent of all new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. More than one-third of women worldwide have experienced physical and/ or sexual violence at some time in their lives. The wide availability of effective antiretroviral therapy has helped keep AIDS deaths comparatively low in recent years. In 2020 about 690,000 people worldwide died from AIDSrelated illnesses, compared with 1.7 million in 2004 and 1.1 million in 2010.43

Several other sexually transmitted diseases—including hepatitis B, syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea—are also widespread. Travelers are advised to be aware of the risks of these diseases. Treatment is frequently complicated