Cuba without immunization?

not fair on your kids or on the locals. Get them up to date with their jabs or don't go.

not fair at home either unless home is a desert island.

If you do a search you'll find many arguments on this topic. The sum-up is that if you choose not to vaccinate, what is largely keeping your child free of these diseases is the fact most others are (the diseases for which we vaccinate are not eradicated, and the incident is increasing in many countries where vaccination has become more of an option). Therefore, you need to know something about the vaccination rate in the country you are going, and whether you can expect similar protection.

As said above though, there are other things to consider. There are reported cases of non-vaccinated kids passing on illnesses to kids who are unable to receive the vaccines (for health reasons). And there are deaths of these kids. When travelling to places where people cannot always afford adequate health care then you are also endangering local children, who may be unvaccinated.

I gather you're not so opposed to vaccines since you are considering them. If you really like to travel and plan other trips then it is a good idea.

Very usefull, thanks

I always use the Fit for Travel website to plan trips. They tend to be on the safe side (so do I).

http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/caribbean/cuba.aspx

A doctor or a nurse at a travel clinic will be able to provide you with more information.

ok, thank you all
In Italy, where we live, vaccine are mandatory for all newborns BUT I'm just trying to delay them as much as possible, knowing how they can be bad for small kids. But you're right when you say that it's not fair when we travel to poor countries and we put local kids to risk-even though I can't think of any serious disease that we could bring to them...
Maybe we'll travel to Cuba when my kids are older. Ciao

These diseases we protect by vaccination are serious at times. Even measles can kill (and does kill a number of unvaccinated kids each year). In NZ this year (my home country) there was an outbreak of whooping cough and it killed newborns who were too young to receive the vaccination.

The poorer countries are often tropical, and poor in basic sanitation. These are ideal conditions for bacteria to grow. So, local kids who get sick are at high risk for secondary infections. If they cannot afford adequate medical care then these are a very serious risk. Even the diseases themselves may require medical intervention. I brought a case of chicken pox to India with me one year. It quickly spread to a woman who works in our house, to her kids, and then to her mother who was visiting from the village. The mother fell sick with it in her village and then spread it round there. I felt awful. Previously this family lived in just a room and used a communal toilet. Her daughter had blisters all over her feet and the risk of infection would have been extremely high under those conditions.

If you are concerned about the risk of vaccination, then make sure your read beyond the anti-vaccine literature, which is extremely biased. You can usually track down original studies and see how much other work has been done on them. The MMR-autism thing, for example. The study "finding" the link has been proven to be a fraud, but I don't think the anti-vaccine literature has accepted this. This is despite many children dying from lack of vaccination, and literally hundred's of studies showing no link. My sister-in-law is a doctor, and she didn't like the idea of some of the joint vaccines, so she gave them separately. Maybe that option is available to you - but, do check the original studies. I was horrified by the anti-vaccine literature (and held back on a couple of vaccines), but once I looked into the studies and realized how manipulative the anti-vaccine writers were I place little faith in it now.

Thank you Api. Before deciding whether to vaccine my kids, I've read a lot about anti and pro vaccination studies and I've decided to postpone vaccinations. The problem is that here in Italy we have 6 compulsory vaccinations in one time. Honestly I don't think they are all useful but unfortunately there's no way to find separate vaccines.
Ciao

ok. Stay out of Cuba and other poorer countries.

your researches have of course included information such as this:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/toxic-myths-about-vaccines/

measles kills, deafens. Rubella damages unborn babies. Mumps damages fertility. Etc etc...

elisewin, I am an unvaccinated person. My first child (now 18 years old and well-travelled) received the HiB course and no others. I have an almost-2 year old who is completely unvaccinated to date. I have no objection to the concept of vaccination, just a great many unanswered concerns about the practical application of the standard childhood vaccine schedule. Just wanted to let you know there are more of us than you might think based on the above responses.

Cuba's healthcare system is wonderful for foreigners and locals... at least on the surface. There are significant whisperings of some disastrous behind-the-scenes problems if you live there but that is another story. As a foreigner visiting Cuba, it's very unlikely you will encounter many health risks if you take the normal precautions.

Measles has been eradicated in Cuba as has polio (like most of the world barring Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now some parts of Egypt). While there are no compulsory vaccinations required for entering the country, people who do travel there consider typhoid and Hep A to be the most important diseases to vaccinate against. Recently cholera has become a concern too although no travellers have yet contracted it. I think there were 500 cases of typhoid last year and 50 or so cases of cholera, but the numbers vary a lot depending on who you speak to.

As you probably know, these diseases are transmitted through poor hygiene/sanitation and contaminated water (rather than being, say, airborne). So it's a different balance of risks than assessing diptheria for instance.