Vaccinations for Vietnam and Cambodia
Replies: 8 - Last Post: Nov 27, 2012 12:50 PM Last Post By: Mick16
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Vaccinations for Vietnam and Cambodia
Hi everybody!Just wondering if I need any vaccinations for Vietnam and Cambodia? I'll prob visit a travel clinic but I know their business is to sell these products so I want to know going in what I should need.
I'll be getting tetanus and pertusis and rabies shots but I'm mostly worried about Dengue fever, Japanese Encephalitus and malaria, does anyone know if there is a high risk of these in SE Asia currently?
We'll be doing an Easy Rider trip through the countryside but I doubt this would put us at too much risk? Might do Gibbon experience in Laos (anyone recommend this?) so might be risk there?
Thanks for your help.
Mick
1
"Need" is one of those words...No vaccination is required. Certainly the Vietnamese authorities aren't worried Western tourists will bring diseases in, and don't carry if tourists catch something.
Some people recommend tetanus and hep-A shots. Can't hurt.
Vaccines for malaria and dengue would be an excellent, as those disease are endemic to South-east Asia. Unfortunately, no such vaccines exist.
There are some vaccines for Japanese encephalitis, but the disease is fairly rare and the efficacy of the vaccines is unclear.
4
Typhoid is the other one which hasn't been mentioned so far and which is often recommended for travel in SE Asia. JE only if you're going to be in SE Asia for an extended period esp in rural areas and in contact with animals (particularly pigs). Rabies is not essential if you have reasonable access to a medical facility which can provide treatment for the slim chance you get bitten.5
Thanks so much for all your advice guys, I think I'll just get the tetanus, typhoid and maybe rabies (as we will be going into the countryside) and then use the caution approach for the rest. I'm lucky that I rarely get mosquito bites but my wife is like a blood bank for them! But she is adamant she doesn't want to take the malaria meds....6
I'm lucky that I rarely get mosquito bites but my wife is like a blood bank for them!
That is not true. You are bitten as often as your wife, but you rarely have the allergic reaction (to the moskie's saliva) that informs you you've been bitten. In terms of personal comfort, you're better off, but it's absolutely zero protection against bug-borne pathogens.
Long sleeves, long pants, DEET, DEET, DEET.
But she is adamant she doesn't want to take the malaria meds....
The only malaria meds worth using: DEET, DEET, DEET.
