Dukoral, should you or shouldn't you?

jennyg

I just got back from India and I just wanted to share something. I took Dukoral, the oral vaccine that is supposed to work against cholera and travellers diarrhea. It cost me $80 here in Canada for the 2 doses that you need. Well I definatley still got diarrhea. There were 3 of us travelling together and 2 of us had taken it. After spending 5 days in the himilayas on the 5th day we were rafting down the ganges and I had to take some immodium to enjoy the rafting trip still! But for those 5 days we had a guide and a cook so me and my friends ate exactly the same things and I was the only one who got sick. It lasted for about 3 days. Then as soon as we got home my friend who took the dukoral also had diarrhea. So I just wanted to share my experience and that it didnt work for me. I am not saying not to take it but I know I wont be shelling out $80 before my next trip for it thats for sure.

crvlvr

Aaah.. the mysteries of the human body.. It appears that Dukoral works against only two causes for Diarrhea, "The vaccine stimulates a local immune response in the bowel and mediates good protection against diarrhea due to cholera and ETEC bacteria." I am pretty sure there are more things that can cause diarrhea. Thanks for letting the other IMers know that Dukoral is not effective.

wandering_kat

Yea, I've also read that's it's effective against e.coli and cholera, but not other bugs. But then again, Dukoral is primarily a cholera vacc, so if it's effective against cholera, i guess it's doing its job.
I'd still take it to be safe against cholera, which would be a far worse bug to catch than any "regular" delhi belly!

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vistet

There is an earlier thread on the subject. Dukoral was developed as a cholera vaccine, afterwards they discovered that the cholera and many E. coli toxins were closely related. There is a study that quotes a 60 % protection effect against E.coli , so nowhere close to a magic wand.

With no important side effects , it all comes down to price and the value we put to spend less time hobbling between the loo and the bed.

Here in Sweden the price for one treatment (two doses) is around 35 Euros/50 USD.

Wanderer22

Took Dukoral before my recent trip to India and had one case of the runs. Have a pretty good idea what led to problems. A train meal (vege) arrived that was just tepid and had probably been sitting around too long. Only took a couple bites before deciding to skip dinner, but had the runs next day. As I suffer from inflammatory bowel disease didn't want to take chances, so hit it early with Ciprofloxin. Things cleared up quickly, so it was probably the start of a bacterial infection as I surmised. Dukoral is not a magic bullet, but I'm willing to use anything that improves my chances of avoiding intestinal problems or cholera.


Wanderer22

lonelyaztec

When in India, eat Idlis only. These are rice cakes and can be eaten with anything, butter, jam...they are the best option.

Or eat, steamed rice with curd or yoghurt.

Avoid all spicy food while travelling thru small towns. Unless u r used to it, u can get into trouble.

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monkgonemad

i had a chloera vax years ago - not they have this combo. i dont think it was effective then or now in the grand scheme.

nothing replaces travel knowledge and knowing what on ecan get away with ones own body.

i cant stay away from spicy food, even if i have a bit of the trots. ok, for a few days -but then im right back drinking black coffee and eating curries. what can i say...

Sunray

Eh, how can you avoid eating spicy foods in small towns, thats all that is available? Do you propose eating just iddly? How miserable a diet would that be! As long as its fresh and properly cooked and hot, its fine I reckon.

I just don't eat meat here, the refrigiration is not up to the levels required for safety and it can cause the worst problems if its bad. Had bad meat poisioning once in the UK and was just about incontinent for 2 weeks. Practically sleeping in the bog.

Had a dodgy stomach when I got here, but I reckon that its mainly self contamination from getting use to using water as loo roll and only using your right hand near your mouth.

7 weeks in, eaten just about everything bar street food thats been sitting there covered in flies. No problems. Just remember to sanitise your hands with the alcohol stuff you can buy here before you eat.

Its not perfect, but I reckon the foods better here than people are lead to believe.

nedhopkins

Dukoral worked for me -- on a three-week trip to India during which I ate and drank things I probably should hot have. I didn't get cholera; I also didn't get the runs.