When you’ll need to immunize
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Posted on: June 5th, 2007 by Rosie Vaughan-Jones
Western travellers have great freedom of mobility and usually don’t have Visa troubles for most countries. What can be the biggest pre-trip preoccupation is immunization.
Depending on which country you wish to visit and which time of year, you may be advised or required to have been immunized against certain viruses.
Most travellers headed for south Asia, South America and Africa would do well to put in a bit of research before they fly, and the sooner the better- as some immunizations require multiple jabs over a period of a few weeks.
Japanese encephalitis for example: this virus affects the forests and jungles of South East Asia mostly and requires three needles over three weeks.
Conversely, malaria prevention is in tablet form, to be taken daily while in any high-risk area.
There are many resources out there to get informed about what you might need.
A comprehensive overview can be found in a book by Dirk Schroeder, Sc D, MPH entitled ‘Staying Healthy in Asia, Africa and Latin America”.
In depth information concerning vaccinations by region can be found on the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/travel/vaccinat.htm
Lui
The first time I traveled into a Malaria zone, the locals were so cool about it and I was in this constant state of malaria hysteria. When people said that malaria was just like getting a cold, i was shocked. I was taking these pills at the time that were making me and my friends crazy. I mean, prevention is good, but people are great at treating malaria in most countries. It is, after all, what they know best. Sometimes just getting the treatment is way better than taking preventative pills.
JP
There’s a lot of information out there against vaccinations as well. I personally never heard about it until I was vaccinated for my trip to Africa (therefor against just about everything), but some people are really against vaccinations and say that they could be unhealthy. It pays to be informed and make your own choice, I guess.