Rabies pre exposure shots in Delhi

gqsmoothie

Damn, I wish I lived in the UK!!

bruce3404

No wonder that the major presidential candidates are all promising some sort of health reform in the U.S. Until then, I'll keep purchasing meds in India or Thailand, and having medical and dental work done in Thailand.

How long is the rabies vaccine effective? I'm hoping it's a once-in-a-lifetime deal after one goes through the series.

machadinha

No, it's short-lived, although a recent report here had it that may mean a few years nowadays. My understanding is also you can still contract it, and will have to go through the appropriate course if you do. The pre-shot will just buy you some time.

I'm not up-to-date on latest developments though. Speak to your docs by all means.

I see absolutely no reason to get the shot unless you'll be (potentially) in close contact with animals btw (vets, spelunkers, and the likes), and it was never advised to me on past travels. But then the question was luckily never about our opinions on it If you feel better doing so, then do so by all means. And as always: I ain't no medic.

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

bruce3404

After I posted the question, I did a little research and found nothing but vague info as to how long the shot series is effective. Some of this came from manufacturers' websites and the only advice was that people exposed to animals on a regular basis should be periodically tested to insure that the vaccine is still working. It seems to me that the best course would be to seek immediate medical attention after a bite and if one were truly worried, why not just carry some of the inexpensive vaccine around with you? If you were way off in the hinterlands, it might be appropriate to also carry a needle.

PeakXV

Some of the touts appear to have contracted rabies ..... and if were really so I would consider rolling up the sleeve for the pre-exposures. Otherwise I'll rely on my animal disposition savvy and nike cross-trainers to avoid any foaming, gnashing jaws when in the subcontinent.

__________________
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

Nick-H

You MUST do that anyway; the vaccine does not stop you catching the disease, it only slows its progress and means you need less treatment after the bite.

Can one carry it? Does it need refrigeration?

I find these statistics counter-productive: India has the second-largest population in the world, and, overall, pretty poor access to good health care. It very likely has the highest death rates from a number of things!

As far as I can see, there are no cons to having the vaccine; no-body has said anything about side-effects, and the fact that it used to be a painful injection seems to be a thing of the past.

There are no real arguments against it, apart from cost: its just that the arguments for it may not be as good as they seem.

Do people rush to get rabies vaccination before visiting, for example, France?

On the whole, I'd say that is about as easy not to catch rabies is it is not to catch HIV/AIDS: if you must stroke street dogs, use a condom, but preferably leave them well alone.

But hey, getting the vaccine is still on my list of thing to do! I just need a round tuit to get on with this, and all the other immunisations that I should have had re-done long ago.

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

zoltan

1) I did some research myself a couple of years ago (and, asked at the medical clinic at work, where one of the nurses agreed to make some enquiries with the medical companies).

The Lonely Planet publication for India or was it Bangladesh (?) said that you only need to have the course of 3 shots and you have coverage for life.

My initial enquiries showed this to be complete bullsh*t and way off the mark.

The nurse came back to me with some information which was that the pre-exposure antibodies remain in the body for an unknown period of time. It varies from person to person.

Some people may have antibodies going strong for a few years while others may only have 12+ months.

The only definitive answer was that in order to be 100% certain, you would have to have a blood test done, to ensure that the antibodies were still firing. IF they weren't, then a booster (single injection) would be adequate to bump up the level of antibodies in your body to continue coverage.

2) The antibodies /serum, must be stored in a refrigerator. If it's kept in the open (eg. backpack medical kit), it could well be rendered useless by exposure to heat. If in doubt, it is wise to carry a needle + syringe in a medical kit - along with a letter from your doctor, in case police try to allege you are an intravenous drug user.

Cheers
Zoltan

__________________
India (and other) photos click here

brownboy66

Spot on Zoltan! Our doctors' advice was the same as your research - about 12 months coverage (longer for some people), and then a single shot about a year later as a "booster" of sorts which will extend the coverage for another 12 months.

Its amazing in these sorts of discussions too - how much confusion exists between what is the "vaccine" and what is the "antigen" (i.e - the immunoglobulin) - and why you need both if you've never had the pre-shots and you get bitten.

The vaccine forces your body to produce antigens, whereas the immunoglobulin is an antigen. The reason you have both if you've never had the pre-shots, is that it takes time for the body to produce antigens - so immunoglobulin is injected into the wound to start combating the virus straight away. If you've never had the pre-shots and you get bit - the vaccine alone is not enough.

__________________
"the last meal is history - its the next one that's important" - Garfield (the cat)
IndiaMike Mod Team.... just some plonker with access to the mod tools

ntomer

Here is an Indian's perspective. I am 30 year old, vaccinated as per doctor's recommendation when I was a kid. I have a 5 year old daughter, who has also been vaccinated according to doctor's recommendations at one of Delhi's best hospitals - Fortis.

But no doctor ever had recommended rabies vaccine. I have never known anybody who died of rabies, neither have I known anybody who have known anybody who died of it.

I travel very frequently and sometimes to really obscure places, but I have never come across any place which is not within 24 hours range of a government hospital; and all government hospitals have to madatorily store rabies shots.

So guys relax, rabies is not as prevalent in India as you guys are making it sound. Those 20K deaths would probably be in rural settings with little or no medical awareness.

Cheers

Nitin

Swe_Mats

Funny thing what Nick said about the ice cream. I was in Sonauli when our bus got a flat tire, we stoped at a gas station where they had a small icecream stand. The power was out and the icecream was melting, but I was so hungry that I had one, and believe it or not, I was sick for a couple of days after that. My stomach was so upset I barely could eat anything. I never thought it was the ice cream, but its kind of obvious isn't it?

birds

I handle lots of strays every day.

Once bitten you have a few hours to get the vaccination and as I prefer not to fill my body with unnecessary vaccinations I only got it when I have been bitten or licked on open wounds.

This has happened for the first time in 13 years in India last year when I tried to lift a 5 month old stray with a massive maggot wound on his back.

Overall I would say the chances for a tourist to get bitten are extremely low.


My last year experience was more or less similar to Zoltan's.

Learned that many pharmacies have the vaccination in stock. The local hospital has a list of which onces do.

Main problem is that it needs to be refrigerated, so you need to ask the pharmacy who power back up he has for the fridge.

The full cure is 5 shots over a six week period. Sometimes they give only 3 but you need 5.

Cost approximately Rs 350 per shot

No need to make an appointment at the hospital or doctor. Just walk in and be prepared to wait a little time.

Haylo

It depends on your doctor, I had to pay for some of my last lot, and it seems that anything like rabies or yellow fever that you won't be contracting in the UK is considered a "luxury" item.

See NHS direct website.

brownboy66

Funnily enough there's a similar discussion going on in one of the malaria threads about the chances of getting malaria...

First off - unless anyone in the thread is actually a doctor the best course of action of course is to seek professional medical advice. As helpful as this forum is - its still just a travel forum and can never replace the advice of a trained medical professional (if there is a doctor in the house....this is not an attempt to put you on the spot - feel free to remain anonymous)!

Secondly - armed with good advice from a trained professional its still personal choice as to whether or not you get the vaccine (some will see the risk as being low - others will be unwilling to take any risks at all). Either way is fine - having made a fully informed decision.

Thirdly - maybe I'm mis-reading it but it sometimes seems that anyone who asks questions about the risk of contracting rabies in India is perceived as being too worried and casting dispersions. Its real, it serious, and it happens - and if someone decides in their judgement that they want the vaccine then I don't think that's an indictment on travel in India?

Fourthly - rabies can be contracted from any mammal - not just dogs (somehow or another rabies is always thought of as a "dog" disease). Monkeys, squirrels, cats, etc - can all transmit rabies. Personally I think the dogs are fine - its the monkeys I worry about (especially at temples, etc). Very aggressive.

Finally - and this is my own view - I tend to look at it as a "before/after" scenario. I don't know what's involved in accurately calculating the risk , but for most travellers browsing this site you have the luxury and time to consider the options and make a decision without pressure, fully in control of what ever actions you decide to take. For someone who gets bitten its no longer up to them - and they become reliant on other people and a number of events falling into place:

- being within easy reach of a medical facility (will you be taking trips out of town, going trekking)?,
- the medical facility having stocks of the vaccine and refrigerated HRIG (human rabies immunoglobulin),
- having someone at the medical facility trained in administering the vaccine and HRIG (browse some of the other threads here and you'll find that hasn't always happened).

I got the vaccine because it was a known option - where as I can't say I'll ever know the answers to the above questions. I'll probably never get bitten - which is fine. Better to have the vaccine and not need it, then to need it and not have it.

gqsmoothie

Wow, this thread has generated a lot of responses.

I'll ask my doc, but does anybody know if doing just 2 pre exposure shots would do me any good. If I do all 3 in Delhi it really screws up my itinerary. But if I could just do one in Delhi then travel to Agra, Jaipur, and back to Delhi for the 2nd jab 10 days later that would be much better.

But really, the more I think about these shots the less I think I am even gonna get them. I'd say the chances of me dying in a vehicle wreck are much higher than dying of rabies. And since the shots only give an extra 24 hours of protection it seems like that with my luck I'd be too far from a doctor for it to matter if I had pre exposure shots or not.

Nick-H

Don't mess with the numbers on something like this: if the book says three, two is no good! What's the worry about getting them in the same place? All you need is a prescription, a pharmacy, and a nurse or doctor that knows how to wield the needle

Probably true, yes.

No, it is more complex than that, or at least not so simple