Going To Thailand - Do I really need jabs?

Zoltar1

I heard you'd be more than likely OK if you didn't bother with the recommended injections from the doctor ...whadda ya reckon?

lady_j

How long are you going for? If its a 2 week holiday I could understand, they are very expensive...

Personally I wouldnt risk not getting them, most of them (if you get the correct boosters) last 10 years so at least you wouldnt have to go through it again

shrapnel222

regardless of where you're going, i think you should at least get tetanos booster if you haven't had it in a while and hepatitis jabs

bringitdown

Yes / no / maybe - Depends on what you do / plan on doing / where you go etc.

Unfortunately the best person to ask is a doctor / tropical medical consultant ... better safe than sorry is my call.

Glowing

Hmm you dont' really want to gamble when it's your health on the line. Having said that, if you're going on a resort holiday then I'd say you'd be fine with the bare minimum - tetanus, rabies, Heb A&B ... again, go to a doctor. TMB are great ... www.tmb.ie

DeVore

I went to Thailand, stayed mostly in the cities but I still got shots as its good for future travel too...

Theres a place on Grafton street you can walk in and get them done and the lot cost me less then 100 euros. I recommend getting them done earlier then later as some need time to work.

DeV.

TravelJunkie

Weird to see everyone supporting taking the jabs! I've gone without a couple of times and safe enough if you don't touch the water or eat off the street vendors... but perhaps I too would recommend taking them as there is such a thing called Murphy's Law.

Glowing

TravelJunkie wrote:

Weird to see everyone supporting taking the jabs! I've gone without a couple of times and safe enough if you don't touch the water or eat off the street vendors... but perhaps I too would recommend taking them as there is such a thing called Murphy's Law.

True enough, you'd *probably* be fine, but its the one time you fall off your motorbike, or injest some water while swimming in a lake, or get bitten by a stray dog, that you'll wish you got the jabs. Some of the infections are nasty or might be life threatening (ie HEP A/B) and the actual hospital bills will be a lot higher than the cost of a shot or two.

Not easy to not touch the water all the time, and the food off the streets is just TOO good to avoid!

Lamps

Dont need the rabies one unless your going into the deep jungles and will be away from civilisation for a few days.

Hep A i'd definetly get, everyone gets food posioning in Thailand but this pervents a serious type of it.

Tetnus/dipeteria are cheap shots so get them done.

If you plan on mingling with the lady population i'd get Hep B to

Better safe than sorry!

Zoltar1

Thanks everybody for the advice.

When i thought of being sick on holidays it really swung it for me. After all the planning and looking forward to it the last thing i want is to get sick while im over there. So even though its olny a resort hoiday and i probably wont stray to far from the hotel i went and got jabbed today.

Jabbed for €150 !!!- one for polio and the other for hepatitus + somethin else.

Interesting that place on Grafton street - would of checked it out only i had the appointment made.

Incidentially here is where i am going.

http://www.katathani.com/

Thanks.

Z.

DO0GLE

Without sounding like a wussie b1tch....are they sore?? I have a thing with needles.

bringitdown

Depends, I don't mind em at all, but a mate fainted ...!

Glowing

The sorest one for me was the HepA/HebB combo, its called Twinrix (I've got all the travel shots you can get pretty much) The volume of the shot is bigger ... and it takes longer to go in .. you can feel the fluid filling up your arm. Ouch! My arm was in bits for days when I got the booster last week, but I don't remember it being this bad the first time.

A friend of mine had a bad reaction to Rabies, but haven't heard anything apart from that. The doctor told me last week that there is a 1/200,000 chance of you dying with the Yellow Fever vaccine, but searching on the web, I think thats horsesh1t. I'm okay anyway

Board-in-work

France has Rabies - nobody seems to get Rabies jabs to go there.;)

You can actually get your jabs in Thailand cheaper than you can get them here. Just walk into a clinic in Bangkok, and get your tetanus etc done. Hospitals in Thailand would put the Irish ones to shame. Very good.

Glowing

Board-in-work wrote:

France has Rabies - nobody seems to get Rabies jabs to go there.;)

You can actually get your jabs in Thailand cheaper than you can get them here. Just walk into a clinic in Bangkok, and get your tetanus etc done. Hospitals in Thailand would put the Irish ones to shame. Very good.

Thats very true - but the rabies jab doesn't stop you from getting the disease. It simply gives you an extra 12 hours to get another injection. In France, you'll easily be able to find a GP in this time, but if you're trekking in Northern Thailand, it might be cutting it a bit fine.