Poland Embassy: 202-232-4517 Warsaw GMT +1 hrs

Entry Requirements:
No visa required for stays up to 90 days.
HIV Test: Testing required for foreign students intending to remain in Poland more than a few weeks; U.S. test results not accepted.
Vaccinations: None required.
Telephone Country Code: 48

Embassies/Consulates: U.S. Embassy: Aleje Ujazdowskie 29/31, Warsaw; Tel: 22-628-3041, 625-0055; Fax: 48-22-625-0289;
Consulates: Ulica Stolarska 9, Krakow; Tel: 12-429-6655; Fax: 48-12-421-8292. Ulica Paderewskiego 7, Poznan; Tel: 61-851-8516; Fax: 48-61-851-8966.
Canadian Embassy: Reform Plaza, 10th Floor, Aleje Jerozolimskie 123, Warsaw; Tel: 22-584-3340; Fax: 584-3192; E-mail: wsaw@dfait-maeci.gc.ca

Hospitals / Doctors:
State Hospital #1, Warsaw (1,500 beds); most major specialties; ER, ICU.
Medical Academy, Gdansk (1,000 beds); most specialties; ICU.
Institute of Maritime and Tropical Medicine, Gdynia-Redlowo, (90 beds); emergency services are available 24 hours a day. English-speaking physicians on staff. Tel: (48) 58-622-51-63.
NOTE: Adequate medical care is available in Poland but it generally does not meet Western standards.
AT&T Dial: 0-010-480-0111 -- -- MCI Dial: 0-01-04-800-222

Current Advisories & Health Risks:

Accidents & Medical Insurance:
Accidents and injuries are the leading cause of death among travelers under the age of 55 and are most often caused by motor vehicle and motorcycle crashes; drownings, aircraft crashes, homicides, and burns are lesser causes.
Heart attacks cause most fatalities in older travelers.
Infections cause only 1% of fatalities in overseas travelers, but, overall, infections are the most common cause of travel-related illness.
MEDICAL INSURANCE: Travelers are advised to obtain, prior to departure, supplemental travel health insurance with specific overseas coverage. The policy should provide for direct payment to the overseas hospital and/or physician at the time of service and include a medical evacuation benefit. The policy should also provide 24-hour hotline access to a multilingual assistance center that can help arrange and monitor delivery of medical care and determine if medevac or air ambulance services are required.

Air Pollution: Travelers with respiratory diseases should be aware that there is severe air pollution in most of the industrial areas of Poland.

Hepatitis: Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all travelers. Hepatitis E may occur, but has not been reported. The hepatitis B carrier rate in the general population is estimated at 0.2% to 1.2%. Vaccination against hepatitis B should be considered for stays over 3 months and by short-term travelers desiring maximum protection. Travelers should be aware that hepatitis B can be transmitted by unsafe sex and the use of contaminated needles and syringes.

Influenza: Influenza is transmitted from November through March. The flu vaccine is recommended for all travelers over age 50; all travelers with chronic disease or a weakened immune system; travelers of any age wishing to decrease the risk of this illness; pregnant women after the first trimester.

Lyme Disease: Lyme disease is reported sporadically. Risk is elevated in the Warmia and the Mazury Lake Region, Western Pomerania, the Bialowieza National Forest, and the Carpathian Mountain Forest. Travelers are advised to take measures to prevent tick bites during the peak transmission season, March through September. The vaccine available in the US (Lymerix) does not protect against the strain of Lyme disease found in Europe.

Other Diseases/Hazards: Brucellosis, cysticercosis (regionally enzootic), echinococcosis (regionally enzootic), hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome, leptospirosis, rabies (enzootic in foxes; rare in humans), trichinosis (elevated risk in eastern Poland), and typhoid fever.

Tick-Borne Encephalitis (TBE): Although the tick vector of tick-borne encephalitis is distributed widely in brushy, wooded areas throughout most of Poland, the chance of contracting TBE is very low. Visitors working or camping in forested areas are those most at risk. There is increased transmission of TBE in the northern forested areas around Gdansk south and eastward to the Russian border, including the areas around Bialystock, the forested lands around Warsaw, Lodz, and Lukow, and along the border with Czechoslovakia south of Wroclaw. Travelers in these areas are advised to take measures to prevent tick bites, especially during the peak transmission season, March through September. The TBE vaccine (available in Canada and Europe), is recommended only for people at significant risk of exposure to tick-bites, for example, campers and hikers on extended trips, or forestry workers.

Travelers' Diarrhea: Surface water in Poland is often polluted with organic, industrial, and agricultural waste/runoff. All drinking water should preferably be bottled or from a reliable source. A quinolone antibiotic, combined with loperamide (Imodium), is recommended for the treatment of acute diarrhea. Diarrhea not responding to treatment with an antibiotic may be due to a parasitic disease such as giardiasis.