Has anyone received the recommended vaccinations for travel to Southeast Asia and/or India recently?
I have to head over to India a week after the 5430 Half IM and I don’t want to get these shots too close to the race and sabotage my race.
Anyone?
Exactly what are you asking about? Which ones or the side effects?
Hep A and B series. Typhoid. Make sure your Tetanus is up to date. TB test upon return (just to be sure)…Not to sure about Malaria problems over there. Might want to check that out as well!
Go to the CDC website, they might have some advice for overseas traveling. Also try the Military Environmental and Prevention websites!
Hepatitis A or immune globulin (IG). Transmission of hepatitis A virus can occur through direct person-to-person contact; through exposure to contaminated water, ice, or shellfish harvested in contaminated water; or from fruits, vegetables, or other foods that are eaten uncooked and that were contaminated during harvesting or subsequent handling.
Hepatitis B, especially if you might be exposed to blood or body fluids (for example, health-care workers), have sexual contact with the local population, or be exposed through medical treatment. Hepatitis B vaccine is now recommended for all infants and for children ages 11–12 years who did not receive the series as infants.
Japanese encephalitis, if you plan to visit rural farming areas and under special circumstances, such as a known outbreak of Japanese encephalitis.
Malaria: your risk of malaria may be high in these countries, including cities. See your health care provider for a prescription antimalarial drug. For details concerning risk and preventive medications, see Malaria Information for Travelers to South Asia.
Rabies, if you might have extensive unprotected outdoor exposure in rural areas, such as might occur during camping, hiking, or bicycling, or engaging in certain occupational activities.
Typhoid. Typhoid fever can be contracted through contaminated drinking water or food, or by eating food or drinking beverages that have been handled by a person who is infected. Large outbreaks are most often related to fecal contamination of water supplies or foods sold by street vendors Vaccination is particularly important because of the presence of S. typhi strains resistant to multiple antibiotics in this region. There have been recent reports of typhoid drug resistance in India and Nepal.
As needed, booster doses for tetanus-diphtheria and measles, and a one-time dose of polio for adults.
Current shots as listed by the CDC. Some shots require multiple visits to the doctor’s office.
As mentioned by others, CDC is the established source for information. But your exposure will be somewhat dependent on the place(s) that you visit. A couple of hints:
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Of course get your long-term protection against ubiquitous problems up to date. That mean IMHO hepatitus A and B, tetanus and I suppose diptheria. These are serious diseases that will affect more than one race if you contract them.
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Malaria. Do a little research or talk to the people whom you’re visiting. In dry areas, you are probably not exposed. If you’re going for a conference / business in a wet area, it may be heavily sprayed so there may be ltd risk if you’re staying in one up-scale location. Anti-malarials are nasty. I rarely take them unless I’m going to spend a few nights in rural areas; same goes for most of the guys I work with.
IF you do want anti-malarials: I recommend malarone instead of mefloquin. The latter has caused me to have fever-type dreams and spend a few very bad nights. Also, you need to take it well in advance of your trip, so it might affect your race. Malarone is less problematic, and you only need to start it two days in advance of your travel to the area of exposure.
In any case, bring DEET-based mosquito repellent. And use it if you’re anywhere there are mosquitos. In addition to malaria and maybe Japanese encephalitis, mosquitos carry dengue fever, which is worse than malaria…
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Get a prescription for and bring with you the antibiotic ciproflaxin in case you develop amoebic dysentary. Be careful to avoid food that has been cooked well in advance or that may have been handled badly. You will almost certainly have some gut problems if you’re there any length of time; when that happens, dose yourself with Immodium (an over-the-counter anti-diarrheal). Do not use the cipro unless your guts are completely sluicing for days and Immodium doesn’t have any effect.
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Diphtheia IIRC can give you a day or two of flu-like symptoms. Don’t get the vaccination shortly before your race, but I think you need to have it 10 or so days before you travel.
Have a great time. Take precautions but don’t let caution get in the way.
Jack, i just got back from SE Asia the other day (Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Indo). big posters in Malay airports re dengue fever so i’d check that out too if you’re really concerned. i didn’t get any shots btw, never considered it on any of my previous visits either…not trying to sound hard, just have many family members there who’re medical professionals & pretty clued up on these things
PS, as per the other poster’s advice, get a good insect repellent & use it! regardless of where you’re going (and i was everywhere from a remote island off the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia to a 5-star hotel in Jakarta) you just can’t escape biting insects…flying, crawling, whatever…they’re frickin everywhere
Yes, I did all but rabies, and jap encephalitis (if thr was one for it, I don’t recall).
I also did NOT take anti malarials. I had nasty nasty side effects using them in Africa, but when I went to Asia thought I’d use them again but stopped*. *I had weird dreams, but also started in with depression, another side effect. I wore long sleeves & long pants most of the time, and slept with a mosquito net and also used deet containing products.
I was *not *staying anywhere upscale at all…we’re talking $5 a night type places, so the mossie net was a must.
Take Cipro & flagyl if you can get your dr. to prescribe it. Flagyl is in case of Giardia, a not too fun thing to endure. And if you’re in India for any amt of time, you’re certain to get at least one bout of dysentary. I actually got it from a place geared toward westerners, advertising they washed their veggies in iodine. I was *really *craving fresh veggies. boy what a mistake. Come to find out, that’s not enuf, it has to be sodium permanganate (sp?)
Good Luck!