vaccination advice

ichinisan

I live in rural Japan, planning my first trip to India. Its hard for me to find a good English speaking doctor, so what I'm left with is a lot of guesswork. Little help?

A little background: my girlfriend and I will be gone for around four months, touring from Calcutta south to Kerela and up to Delhi. We'll stay two months in rural Kerala, doing yoga. Now, onto the vaccinations.

First, polio is simply not available. But I had a tetanus shot in Canada about three years ago. Is a polio booster generally in there with the tetanus shot?

Should I get mennigitis? The doctors here think I'm crazy for even suggesting it.

How about typhoid? Again, they think I'm crazy. But I'll try and convince them if need be.

Any advice appreciated.

Sama

here's everything you want to know about shots How Necessary are Polio & Typhoid Shots....Really?

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xealot

try this document, forum advice is great but it's also good to read something official

http://www.iamat.org/pdf/WorldImmunization.pdf

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ichinisan

Thanks guys. I'll try and convince the hospital that a polio booster does indeed exist. I hope they believe me!

machadinha

No, sorry, but I don't agree. It's just a thread about some specific shots that Yogagal recently enquired about. There are many more informative threads in the health section that you're in. Bottom line: yes, maybe, who knows. I'd hate to think to have suggested that these are the only diseases you need to worry about, I think that was never the question anyway.

I can't believe you can't get good advice in japan whether rural or otherwise btw. Maybe ask harder.

Have a nice 1.

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monkgonemad

you may have had a dpt shot as a child - so some possible polio prevention -but could use booster.

you need a tetnus booster
you need polio
need typhoid only if you are going to areas that have poss outbreaks (or if its free)

get these somewhere because of all shots you really should have: polio, tet, hepa


maybe no vaccine because no poss outbreak - im not shocked. japan has throughly eliminated polio -so why have vax?

call your embassy ask for hospital japanese you when going abroad.

if you are flying thru bkk, you can get shots there.

Sama

http://www.mdtravelhealth.com/destin...sia/india.html

here's the info I meant to post, all about shots, malaria, etc., from a travel health website. very informative.

machadinha

Oops indeed Looks like a to-the-point and level-headed site from a first glance.

btw Something that struck me from the other recent thread too, in case you should get some tropical disease the symptoms are usually flu-like, with vague symptoms such as fever, headaches, drowsiness and fatigue etc., and the advice being to seek immediate medical attention should they persist for more than three days or so. Since catching a cold or a slight flu is common enough anywhere including in India & it's impractical to be running to the doctor's every time you have a runny nose (who are unlikely to be willing to accommodate panicky tourists with another fever all the time at any rate) you're still pretty much left to your own devices and your own good judgment. I guess it pays to be aware of certain risks and possible complications though.

machadinha

btw interesting snippet there, I'll include it on the other thread as well:

ichinisan

thanks for the info and the links everyone. it convinced me to ask again at the hospital but they say i can't get either polio or typhoid vaccinations here. don't ask me why. i'm going to try one more time, and i'm also going to try in the next city over, which is a bit bigger, but it looks like i can't get the shots. can i get them in bangkok? has anybody done that before who can tell me what to expect?

Karaokemonk

If I were you I'd wait and get the shots in Bangkok even if you can get them in Japan. It would be MUCH cheaper. This hospital is perhaps the most expensive in Thailand but is still a real bargin by western standards.
www.bumrungrad.com

machadinha

You can probably get your shots abroad at reputed hospitals and a lot cheaper too (have you considered calling around in Tokyo or some such place btw, or to enquire with your embassy, or any embassy for that matter?) If I were you I'd want to enquire ahead though what exactly you need and what you can get where and if not why so. One thing that's been brought up plenty of times here is that for a vaccine to take effect you'd normally want to take it some time ahead because your body needs to build up resistance and some vaccines require a series of shots (or pills or whatever). This can vary from days to weeks to months ahead. If you're running out of time your next best bet is to start the course at home and finish it at your place of destination, in that case you'd want to know if the same precise vaccine or a compatible one to the one you've been treated with is available where you're headed.

And other such obvious remarks. Good luck

sticky

You can get tehm in bangkok, which is exactly what I am going to do. I have contacted a few hospitals, and have asked on the TT for thailand and all say that it is not a problem.

apparently the Chulalongkorn University Hospital is the cheapest (but still good), and there is also the yanhee hospital. the Chulalongkorn also has a pharmacy where you can buy cheap generic and brandname medicines

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