My wife and I and our two daughters are touring Cape Town area then on to Namibia to hunt this July. At the local travel clinic we were advised to consider a polio booster and typhoid and meningoccal vaccines.
Do you frequent African fliers feel these shots are needed?

Anytime you are traveling overseas, you never know what "germs" you will be in contact with.

Dear Bill

Best to contact your medical travel clinic.

You need to decide what you want to have.

Our kids had 5 different thing but we were a bit higher up in RSA.

as i understand it polio is getting more prevalent in africa, vaccines are cheap, much better than the chances you take without them

Bill,

Go to the the CDC (Center for disease Control) Website www.cdc.gov and follow the prompts. They'll tell you exactly what is needed curently for any destination.

Mark

The decision on what vaccinations to take is a hard one for many people,,,for several reasons,, who the heck wants a shot, who wants to spend the money, who wants to risk any side effects, etc. The benefits always exceeds the risks. I was a little worried about being over vaccinated but Md's that deal with us travelers know when we should receive a booster snd the info is available online. Polio boosters are a piece of cake, take one, Typhiod, great idea, you have two choices there pill or shot, Hepatitis as well, the main thing is plan ahead, some, especially the Hep is a series of shots. If you are going too "OR THORUGH" a yellow fever zone you will need proof of that as well. Tetanus booster is a good idea as well. Many now are reccommending a rabies series as well. Find a good travel clinic if possible and go early,,, and take your CHECKBOOK! You do not want to travel half way around the world, spend hard eanrned money to spray and decorate the countryside with your backside or have high fever and be unable to hunt.

Waste of money.......until you contract a disease that could have been prevented with a simple, inexpensive injection.

I've had all those including a new round of typhoid (oral) a year or so ago as the vaccine only lasts a few years. I admit I wondered how necessary they were but after thinking about what were wading through in a fishing village in Zamibia a few weeks ago I think they were a good idea. A fellow hunter sharing camp with us told me how he contracted typhoid one time. He did not exactly paint a pretty picture. You really never know what exactly you are going to come into contact with in Africa.

I travel internationally a lot and I keep my vaccinations up on everything except Japanese encephalitis and rabies. I've strongly considered the rabies but if you get bit you have to have shots anyway so I haven't done it so far.

If you have to have the rabies shots anyway, what does the vaccine do?

Shots = $
Treatment for something that could have been prevented by $ = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and maybe life long or life limiting.

quote:

Originally posted by postoak:
If you have to have the rabies shots anyway, what does the vaccine do?

Keeps you from having to take the globulin shots along with vaccine.

If you are vaccinated for rabies and are exposed...check titer and one booster ususally...been there and done that a couple of times.

Thanks for replying ledvm, but could you translate "check titer and one booster usually" into lay-speak?

Based on something Shakari said in another thread, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to also take over a bottle of Flea and Tick Shampoo for dogs or the human version of same.

People respond differently to the vaccine. Some only need a booster every few years to maintain protective levels (titer) in the blood. Once you complete the initial three vaccine series for rabies you can have your blood drawn and checked to see if you have adequate protection (titer). If not, then you get a booster vaccination.