Injections for SE Asia

ozzy jr

I'm guessing my local Doctor will advise me on what to get, but does anyone know how much they are. How far in advance of travel do you need to get them?

Kotek Besar

Which countries are you going to?

ozzy jr

Probably landing in Hong Kong and travelling through China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia to Singapore.

Kotek Besar

ozzy jr wrote: »

Probably landing in Hong Kong and travelling through China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia to Singapore.

I've never bothered with injections when going to those countries.

kaki

Vaccines should be taken about four to six weeks before travel:

• Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all travelers aged 1+. It should be given at least 2 weeks before departure. A booster should be given 6-12 months later to confer long-term immunity.
  
• Typhoid vaccine is recommended for all travelers, with the exception of short-term visitors who restrict their meals to major restaurants and hotels, such as business travelers, a course of 4 tablets, 1 being taken every other day.
  
• Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all travelers if not previously vaccinated. The vaccine is usually administered on a 0, 1, and 6 month schedule, although Individual clinicians may choose to use an accelerated schedule (for either the hepatitis B vaccine or Twinrix) (i.e., doses at days 0, 7, and 21) for travellers who will depart before the 6 months are up.
  
• Tetanus-diphtheria vaccine is recommended for all travelers who have not received a tetanus-diphtheria immunization within the last 10 years, and is effective almost immediately.
  
• Yellow Fever vaccine A single dose correctly given confers immunity in basically 100% of recipients, booster shots recommended every 10 years to maintain immunity. If a country requires the vaccine for entry, travellers must allow at least 10 days before entering the country for vaccination.
  
• Japanese encephalitis For travelers who may spend a month or more in rural areas and for short-term travelers who may spend substantial time outdoors in rural areas, especially after dusk. For those age 17 or older, the recommended vaccine consists of a dose, followed by a second dose 28 days later, to be finished at least 1 week before departure.
  
• Rabies vaccine is normally advised for people at high-risk of exposure. Vaccinating the entire population against a rare disease they are unlikely to ever encounter isn't practical, yet anyone could have an unexpected encounter with a bat or other potentially infected animal. On the other hand, Rabies is a big problem in many other countries, especially in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. Not only is dog rabies common there, but postexposure treatment for humans may be hard to obtain. Vaccination may be recommended depending on your planned activities and length of stay. Contact with all animals, including dogs and cats, should be avoided when traveling abroad.

You can probably give or take rabies and Japanese encephalitis, but the others are almost essential. They are expensive, and a pain in the ass/arm/thigh, but health is wealth and all that...

turbobaby

I can recommend the clinic in Drumcondra. Dr Ekky's a lovely fella!

Kotek Besar

kaki wrote: »

Vaccines should be taken about four to six weeks before travel:

• Hepatitis A vaccine is recommended for all travelers aged 1+. It should be given at least 2 weeks before departure. A booster should be given 6-12 months later to confer long-term immunity.
  
• Typhoid vaccine is recommended for all travelers, with the exception of short-term visitors who restrict their meals to major restaurants and hotels, such as business travelers, a course of 4 tablets, 1 being taken every other day.
  
• Hepatitis B vaccine is recommended for all travelers if not previously vaccinated. The vaccine is usually administered on a 0, 1, and 6 month schedule, although Individual clinicians may choose to use an accelerated schedule (for either the hepatitis B vaccine or Twinrix) (i.e., doses at days 0, 7, and 21) for travellers who will depart before the 6 months are up.
  
• Tetanus-diphtheria vaccine is recommended for all travelers who have not received a tetanus-diphtheria immunization within the last 10 years, and is effective almost immediately.
  
• Yellow Fever vaccine A single dose correctly given confers immunity in basically 100% of recipients, booster shots recommended every 10 years to maintain immunity. If a country requires the vaccine for entry, travellers must allow at least 10 days before entering the country for vaccination.
  
• Japanese encephalitis For travelers who may spend a month or more in rural areas and for short-term travelers who may spend substantial time outdoors in rural areas, especially after dusk. For those age 17 or older, the recommended vaccine consists of a dose, followed by a second dose 28 days later, to be finished at least 1 week before departure.
  
• Rabies vaccine is normally advised for people at high-risk of exposure. Vaccinating the entire population against a rare disease they are unlikely to ever encounter isn't practical, yet anyone could have an unexpected encounter with a bat or other potentially infected animal. On the other hand, Rabies is a big problem in many other countries, especially in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America. Not only is dog rabies common there, but postexposure treatment for humans may be hard to obtain. Vaccination may be recommended depending on your planned activities and length of stay. Contact with all animals, including dogs and cats, should be avoided when traveling abroad.

You can probably give or take rabies and Japanese encephalitis, but the others are almost essential. They are expensive, and a pain in the ass/arm/thigh, but health is wealth and all that...

And are all those vaccines necessary for travel to Hong Kong, China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore?

Trampas

As far as I remember the Japanese encephalitis is no longer available but the rest i got

Maleria tablets should be included

Kotek Besar

Trampas wrote: »

As far as I remember the Japanese encephalitis is no longer available but the rest i got

Maleria tablets should be included

For travel to which countries?

was.deevey

In all honesty it'll very much depend if you are traveling through the main City's or rural / jungle areas which you don't specify.

If its just city areas, I would not be going overboard on the vaccines apart from Tetanus & Malaria & hepatitis B if you plan on eating lotsa street food....I'm living in SE Asia for a good while now.

Dengue fever is the most feared one by locals here, mainly because its both expensive to treat and completely knocks you flat for months....Unfortunatly no vaccine is available, I never feared mosquitos until I'd met some people who survived Dengue.

Board-in-work

You need to look here -

www.tmb.ie

Go see them.

Malaria tablets are only needed if you are going off the beaten track. However everything in Laos / Vietnam is probably off the beaten track !

As for rabies - this is a course of injections thats needed over a period of weeks - and France / Spain has rabies - would you take rabies shots to go to Spain? - Just stay away from the street dogs !

kaki

I mentioned in my post that you can give or take Japanese encephalitis and rabies, and try to avoid animals and rural areas during your stay. However, for the sake of €150 or so, you'd have 72 hours to get to a hospital rather than 24 hours (which is a big difference if you're off in the middle of nowhere), should an animal bite/scratch you.Some people might choose not to have the Hep B vaccine either, because they feel they won't be having sex with locals/injecting drugs whilst there. However, getting a blood injury in a car accident for example is something out of your control, not uncommon and could lead to infection. Hep A, just avoid food outside of your hotel, make sure all water that passes your lips is boiled/treated. Yellow fever isn't yet established in SE Asia, although they have the right monkeys and mosquitos to host the disease if just one person manages to bring it in. Tetanus can only be caught through broken skin, so theoretically if one avoid all situations where they could get a cut/graze, there's no need for that vaccine. Diptheria can be passed via human to human contact, so if you stay in your hotel all day long and never venture out you should be grand...

I hate needles and I think that vaccinations are expensive, but I think the whole point of immunisation is that it gives you peace of mind and doesn't restrict you from going a bit off the beaten track whilst you're there. Getting sick on holiday sucks, your trip is probably expensive enough so why run the risk of catching a disease that would incapacitate you for a few days, or even cause you lifelong problems, or even kill you?

Also, aside from vaccinations, there's the anti-malarial tabs, and you can get your doc to prescribe you a general purpose antibiotic in case you get Thai belly whilst over there.

Trampas

rabies injection only gives you more time to get to proper medical care so you are not immune to it.

If you need malaria tablets try and get them on the drugs payment scheme.

i think you can calm some tax back also via prsi (That is if you qualify).

really depends on where you are going. if you tell your doctor he should be able to tell you what you need.

ozzy jr

kaki wrote: »

I mentioned in my post that you can give or take Japanese encephalitis and rabies, and try to avoid animals and rural areas during your stay. However, for the sake of €150 or so, you'd have 72 hours to get to a hospital rather than 24 hours (which is a big difference if you're off in the middle of nowhere), should an animal bite/scratch you.Some people might choose not to have the Hep B vaccine either, because they feel they won't be having sex with locals/injecting drugs whilst there. However, getting a blood injury in a car accident for example is something out of your control, not uncommon and could lead to infection. Hep A, just avoid food outside of your hotel, make sure all water that passes your lips is boiled/treated. Yellow fever isn't yet established in SE Asia, although they have the right monkeys and mosquitos to host the disease if just one person manages to bring it in. Tetanus can only be caught through broken skin, so theoretically if one avoid all situations where they could get a cut/graze, there's no need for that vaccine. Diptheria can be passed via human to human contact, so if you stay in your hotel all day long and never venture out you should be grand...

I hate needles and I think that vaccinations are expensive, but I think the whole point of immunisation is that it gives you peace of mind and doesn't restrict you from going a bit off the beaten track whilst you're there. Getting sick on holiday sucks, your trip is probably expensive enough so why run the risk of catching a disease that would incapacitate you for a few days, or even cause you lifelong problems, or even kill you?

Also, aside from vaccinations, there's the anti-malarial tabs, and you can get your doc to prescribe you a general purpose antibiotic in case you get Thai belly whilst over there.

Think I'll stay at home

kaki

Haha, don't worry, I was being slightly sarcastic in the first paragraph ozzy jr! Just man up, get a few jabs and tabs and don't spend your holiday worrying.

ozzy jr

So, from reading the above I can't get these injections a few days before I go. My trip will be a last minute booking, but it's going to happen in August more than likely, so I'll need to get the injections now.

Do GP's have them or do I need to go to a special clinic? I live in Dundrum, anywhere around there?

ozzy jr

I'm just back from the Tropical Medical Bureau in Stillorgan. It's going to cost about €200 - €250 for the injections. Does that sound about right? Is there a cheaper way of getting it done?

Jimdagym

I'm going to Hong Kong in October, and on a recent visit to my GP I asked him would I need any shots for the trip. He said hepatitis is very prominent over there so if I planned on having sex, I should be extra careful.
Then he got all embarrassed and looked at his shoes, and said "obviously thats not the case if its with your wife"

Kotek Besar

Jimdagym wrote: »

"obviously thats not the case if its with your wife"

Why's he assuming that your wife doesn't have hepatitis?

Jimdagym

Kotek Besar wrote: »

Why's he assuming that your wife doesn't have hepatitis?

He has obviously never met her...