vaccines and anti-malaria: what's the risk to take them or not?

dimkarydis

Dear all,

I am about to visit south India in December for three weeks and I am in a dilemma whether I should take any anti-malaria tablets. My doctor told me that I only need them if I go to Goa which I iwll probably skip. However, my frienfd who I am going with are convinced that we need the anti-malria pills for the rest of our journey. I don't want to put these pills in my body as I have heard they can have severe side effects. I am wondering, health-wise is it better to take them or not and how likely is it that I iget malaria in South India?
My doctor also suggested me to take Polio, Dieftheria, tetanus and tyfoid vaccines. How likely is it to get of those diseases? I want to avoid the vaccines as well.
Please, help!

shashank.aggarwal

scroll down the page and check the list of similar threads....

Browse through the forums and you will fine loads of stuff being asked and answered on the same.

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pgupta

You should get DPT (diptheria, polio, tetatnus) booster shots if you haven't. Also Hepatitis A and B. Can't do much about Hepatitis C. This is a minimum for me. The hepatitis shots must be done in a given time frame. Talk to your doctor.

Other things like thyphoid, Jap E, rabies etc are a personal call and depends on the region where you. And you should research that.

happy travelling

pallav

http://pallavgupta.homeunix.org

SteamBuff

I would have the Typhoid as well as the DTP and HepA/B (Since you are in the UK, it should be free)

As for Anti-Maleria's take your doctor's or a travel clinics advice, they should be able to discuss any possible side effects (If any .. I have never suffered side-effects so far) In the end it is your call ..... in any case take plenty of mozzi spray

Dave

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machadinha

My best advice would be to not let such questions depend on some strangers on a web board (including me, and this advice ).

As Shashank noted, those questions get covered all the time here, so search around for them. Beyond that (and better), speak to your tropical health clinic or local doctor, after having asked if s/he's specialized in tropical diseases. Apparently you already did even, so why trust us? Be aware that all travelers will have their highly personal theories on the matter. As will your doctor, but at least they're supposed to have done a few years of studying for it and maybe read a professional journal every once in a while.

(Some) anti-malarials may or may not produce side effects in different people btw, so it's impossible to say just like this. So like SteamBuff said, just discuss it with them. And again, travelers are fond of swapping stories about this (Yes you must! No you musn't!), don't let it influence you too much.

ps

That's really not recommended. Which is why they're recommended. But some are against them, and some don't take them I guess. You have your own mind to make up. The ones you listed are pretty standard btw, you probably had them as a kid and it's not a bad idea to have them where you live. (And did I say already: Don't listen to me either?)

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the opoponax

Question -- let's say you're spending the first several weeks of your trip in a low-risk area for malaria. What's the done thing in that case? Do you start taking meds before leaving home, or take the usual precautions about getting bit and wait till a week or so before heading into a higher-risk area to start taking them?

And, yes, this is a question I plan to pose to my doctor when I go for my vaccinations next week. But I just thought I'd test the waters here. Especially since some countries (like the US) view all of India as a high risk area, and others (like the UK) only prescribe meds if you're traveling to certain regions.

Edited to ask a sub-question, after taking another look at that handy malaria map -- what to do if, out of the 2 months you'll be in India, you'll really only be in higher-risk areas for a couple of weeks? When do you stop taking them?

machadinha

Phew... I'd either take them or not take them, I think, so you have another hassle factor out of the way. Measuring it out by the day could easily become a full-time job in itself, I have better things to do on my holidays.

I'd take all those maps and advisories as pretty general, which is probably what they're meant to be anyway. I've said it often before but before the web life often seemed so much simpler: Not all that half-informed self-studying and self-medicating and whatnot to do. Yes, kids, you'd actually speak to someone who you presumed might know about it if you wanted to know something back then, way back when in let's say 1990 (I'm just kidding of course, not making fun of you, Opo. Anyway the earlier paragraph is what I'd do. I think I once took them then decided to quit for some reason, not many mosquitos around or something, and some of those pills don't go well with me. But I wouldn't fuss around with it too much, again, either take them or don't. If you don't, make sure to protect yourself in other ways. In fact, protect yourself anyway, I know of no medicines that will guarantee you won't get it.)

the opoponax

That's cool, I didn't think you were mocking me.

And yes, I think all this internet self-diagnosis is ridiculous, and wish people wouldn't do it. All the same, I like to be informed. At the end of the day, my medical decisions are my own, not my doctor's. And this is a subject there seems to be a lot of dispute about, not merely amongst us lay folk, but also within the medical industry, even among national health policies.

I feel the same way about this as, for example, (to get girlie for a sec) the decision about what kind of birth control to use. There doesn't seem to be one clear answer, and it would be royally stupid to simply let my doctor decide for me. On the other hand, it would also be stupid to ignore my doctor's advice and to instead trust some website that raved about the "rhythm method".

edwardseco

Vaccines are easy compared to malarial issues. I am sure everybody can get into that one! Best to use the site's main strength (besides its superior regulars and moderators)and consult the archives first..

machadinha

<cross-posted with ES>

Yes, all very true. I personally err on the side of not wanting to give out unwarranted layman's advice, but on the other hand of course it should be openly discussed. Since it's a little more serious than what color to wear your hair in though, and since you never know who you're speaking to, I'd rather see it in the most general of terms. But... that's just me.

I've said this often before, but my handy little tropical diseases handbook calls malaria the "single most contentious topic among travelers," and from my experience that's true, and they sure like to yap about it. I also suspect because they hear funny stories about malaria pills, some think this extends to standard vaccinations somehow (completely unrelated, in fact). What on earth is wrong with a DTP shot? Well, unless you're totally against it, I guess. Maybe people have also forgotten what dying of something simple like diphtheria is like. Precisely because it has been practically eradicated in many parts. (I'm sorry, I'm discussing this with the person next to me and it gets us a little heated.)

But, in the end it's everyone's own decision, of course. Let's just hope they don't throw too much irrational stuff into their considerations.

dimkarydis

Make your research on long-term side effects of vaccines (especially polio) and you will realise the risk of doing them. The question is? Is it more likely to get polio in India or that these vaccines can harm your general health?
I have decided not to take the vaccines or the anti-malaria tablets as I feel the regions I will visit are not high-risk areas. I would definately do them if I was going to Tanzania or Congo. But for India not. I hope I have taken the right decision.

edwardseco

I don't understand the OP in light of this manifesto. Think we were had.
Still, I hope you don't get Hep A or B ot Typhoid since I know people who have. You probably won't need malarials unless your luck runs out. That worked for me for over 2 years till mine ran out.
Cheerio..

the opoponax

Yeah, for like 2 seconds I was thinking about not getting most of the shots (maybe just the DPT booster, and I've already had Hep B years ago). And then I thought - hm. It would really suck to be the one stupid American girl to go to India and die of typhoid because I was too cheap to get a vaccine...

In fact I've just priced that out today, it'll be $80 (actually cheaper than I thought). Would I rather pay $80 and know I won't get this perfectly avoidable disease, or risk typhoid and have the chance to blow another 3000 rupees on trinkets?

I'd also add that my main reason for reading these health threads, and sometimes asking health related questions, isn't for direct advice (I'll consult a doctor, or at least a reliable medical text, thanks). It's mainly to hear other people's experiences, and maybe the pros and cons from a non-medical perspective (e.g. "it's a pain in the ass to try to get your shots after you arrive in India" or "worrying about the map is way too complicated, either take it or don't").

machadinha

Good point really. I think I'm overly sensitive with it; I just sometimes picture these 16-year-olds heading out there relying on IndiaMike for their personal health and safety (and lord knows there seem to be some presumably more mature ones with a similar state of mind. Hey, that looks nice in the brochure! And that map doesn't show it to be bigger than my place at all!)