Hi
Just looking for some advice as i am traveling for the first time to south east asia for 8 months - countries include thailand, vietnam, laos, cambodia and hong kong. i have had the usual jabs for traveling to these countries however they have advised me of the japanese b encephalitis and rabies which are optional - these together would cost around £300 - if they are essential then the money will be worth it obviously - however i am yet to meet anyone who has had these done????
has anyone had these vaccinations or anyone who has traveled to these places give me any advice???
thanks
Reply to this Hello Moses 😊
I wouldnt bother with japanese b encephalitis. I never get that vaccination. You only need it if you are going to be in rural areas for more than a month at a time. This disease is rare amongst travellers.
Rabbies: I generally stand clear of dogs and monkeys to prevent being bitten. I dont get the rabbies vaccination. If you havent had the vaccination, you would need to get to good medical facilities ASAP if you are bitten. Right away preferably. Even if you have had the vaccination, you would still need more injections after being bitten, but they wouldnt be as much of an emergency.
Mel
Reply to this About Rabies: In case you get bitten by an infected mammal and you are vaccinated (which requires 3 injections or so) you will need another couple of vaccinations.
In case you get bitten while you are not vaccinated, you will need a total of 5 injections and antibiotics. The problem is that these antibiotics are not always available and this might actually be the only reason the get vaccinated beforehand.
In Holland Rabbies injections cost around 70 euros each, which I think is not worth it. We all have to die one day...
Reply to this If you are hanging around in Thailand for a while, you can get the rabies jabs in the Red Cross hospital there. It costs very little. You have one, then another a week later and another a month after that (I think).
We did it, it's perfectly safe and very good. They staff speak English. The hospital is an International rabies and snake research centre. It was the 2nd hospital in the World to produce anti-venom for snakes (it's not some dodgy backwater place). It has a travel clinic for other jabs too. They are all significantly cheaper than they are in the UK.
Reply to this hey thanks alot for all the advice - def not going for the japanese b jab but might just get the jabs done in thailand at the red cross hospital... do you know where in thailand it is???
Reply to this Yes, it's at the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute on Rama IV road, Bangkok, close to the Chulalongkorn hospital. You get to it via the Sala Daeng sky train station.
Reply to this I've spoken to my surgery today and they recommend I get them all which would cost over £600, and get malaria tablets, even though the NHS map shows I don't need to get them as I'm not going anywhere near high risk areas, maybe a few little islands in Thailand.
Last year when I went away they just said the free ones were ok, and only to get Hep B if im planning on having unprotected sex, rabies if i was backpacking a lot in the jungle etc or near animals, and only to get malaria tablets for Phillipines and Indonesia. Now they seem to just be just trying to get money out of you. I think I'm going to make an appointment to see my GP and have a chat. The prices are ridiculous.
Reply to this Sometimes I do wonder whether the NHS isn't actually turning into a 'for profit' organisation.
As mentioned above, don't bother with Japanese Encephalitis unless you really are going off the beaten track. Three shots will set you back between £130-160.
The same goes for Rabies. You will still need to have more shots if bitten. Having the shots in the UK simply gives you more time to get to a hospital should this occur. Rumour has it that the jabs are extremely painful too!
The most important jabs are Tetanus and Polio (if you haven't had a booster for the last 5-10 years), Typhoid and HBV/HAV. You might also want to consider a Cholera jab if you are going to Thailand, due to the flooding that is affecting the country at the present time.
As for Malaria, don't bother taking daily pills as these can often cause more harm than good. Instead take a card of Malarone. These are pills you can take in the eventuality that you should contract Malaria. You take 4 tablets a day for 3 days which kills the parasites that lodge themselves in your liver.
One of the diseases that you want to watch out for is Dengue fever. I got struck down by it about a month ago and it is no laughing matter I can tell you. It is spread through the bite of a mosquito and at the current time there is no vaccine. So, try to keep yourself covered up, spray your room at night or use a mosquito net and rub yourself in well with mosquito cream if you intend to go out and about in shorts and a t-shirt. Dengue is prevalent in the cities as well as the countryside.
Happy travels 😊
[Edited: 2011 Oct 29 00:55 - Cockle:46288 ]
Reply to this Good summary of info there, many thanks.
You make a good point about Cholera, and the floods in Thailand. It's such a shame to see the capital in such a state.
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