[elijahmo]

Hi,

I am travelling to Kerala in June. I am aware that the likelihood of jap B outbreaks increase during this period.

I know I am asking people to comment on health issues but I have talked to my doctor and he says it is up to me. It costs £90 and I have read a fair bit about it but I really don't understand if I need to get the vaccination. I am in Kerala for two weeks. What do people think? personal preferences?

Thanks,

Adam

[john.sw]

I spend a lot of time in Kerala and my doctor in the UK recommended I had the following:

Combined Hepatitis A & Typhoid

Polio

Diptheria/Tetanus

I had a Hepatitis A booster 1 year later and am now protected for 10 years

The Polio lasts 10 years

The Diptheria/Tetanus lasts 10 years.

The Typhoid jab lasts 3 years.

I have never bothered with Japanese Encephalitis jabs, even though I have traveled to far higher risk areas than Kerala.

[larki]

I did get the Japaneses Encephalitis shots, a set of 3, my cost was 300.00US Oh, did I say they hurt a lot, they are given sub Q...... ouch !
I did because I was going to be there for a while, during the monsoon season and working with kids.
The CDC says"Japanese encephalitis occurs widely except in mountainous areas."
You are only go to be there for 2 weeks, if you hear of an outbreak stay away from the area.
It is your decission.
Have a good trip.

[Pete]

We had Jap B Encephalitis jabs when we went to India last, mostly because our travel plans were vague and we thought we might be spending time in rural areas in one of the endemic countries other than India. We were advised by the Tropical Medicine Bureau in Ireland (http://www.tmb.ie) who say on their very useful website:

"It is reported that the risk of Japanese B Encephalitis is approximately 1/1,000,000 for normal short term travellers to some of the endemic countries [India is on their list of endemic countries]. This risk rises to approximately 1/5,000 for those living in rural areas for more than one month in the endemic countries. This is particularly the case between May to September in South East Asia or between July to December in North India/Pakistan/Bangladesh."

The problem with the Jap B vaccine is that some people have a "reaction" to it. From what I understood this involved going into some kind of anaphylactic shock shortly after having the jabs (there were three spread over a couple of weeks as I remember). For this reason we were not allowed to leave the clinic immediately, and had to sit in view of the nurses for 1/2 an hour in case we keeled over. Neither of us did but, as I understand it, this is no guarantee that we won't the next time.

Our local GP said that having an adverse reaction in a clinic where you could be treated immediately seemed a better risk than coming down with a disease with "no specific form of therapy" in a rural area of one of the endemic countries. Please note, however, that I am not a doctor so you should obviously seek medical advice before deciding to have the vaccination or not).

Pete

[larki]

Pete, No one told me that!

[Pete]

Hi larki,

The Tropical Medicine Bureau website (www.tmb.ie) says:

"Reactions:
Unfortunately in the early 1990's a number of reactions were associated with the use of Japanese B Encephalitis vaccine. From these figures it was estimated that significant reactions could occur with this particular vaccine in 4 to 8 of every 10,000 doses. This frequency of reaction would limit the widespread use of the vaccine. Since this time it appears that there are now very few reactions occurring to the vaccine. The vaccine is now available in the US following extensive monitoring. "

Maybe now "very few" reactions occur they no longer think it necessary to monitor people? I don't know, I guess we just have to take the advice we're given by the particular doctor we see and hope for the best.

Pete