Travel Vaccines

Travel vaccines vaccinate against:

• Cholera: caught from contaminated food and water and results from poor sanitation. The chance of contracting Cholera is very slim. Only 30 British people a year get it. Side-effects of the cholera vaccine include urticara, bursitis, jaundice, neuritis, myalgia, low-grade fever, gangrene of the arm, post-vaccine syndrome of multiple pains, encephalitis, coma and death.
• Typhoid: like Cholera, is caused by poor sanitation, and is most often got by drinking water with human feces in it. There is also recent new information which has found it can be sexually transmitted. Common side-effects include local reactions, including pain, swelling or erythema, nausea , vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, headaches, fever, allergic reactions, anaphylactic shock, shortness of breath, dehydration, rash, hypotension, arthralgia, kidney disorders, loss of consciousness
• Hepatitis A & B: contracted via food and drink contaminated with sewage, and where sanitation is poor. Most sufferers completely recover and the death rate is very low (0.2%). Side-effects of the vaccine include rash, upper respiratory tract infections, arthralgia, myalgia, lymphatic disorders, fits, paralysis, hepatitis, anaphylactic shock, MS, encephalitis.
• Rabies: said to be caused by animal bites and is common in Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, India, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Africa, Asia, South and Central America. The disease, once established, is serious and usually results in death. Efficacy of rabies vaccine is not known. There seems very little written about it. Stephen Learock, the economist, once described Pasteur as the “man who brought rabies to all!”
• Meningitis: Meningitis is inflammation of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms are high fever, severe persistent headache, vomiting, sensitivity to light, irritability or drowsiness, stiffness of the neck, skin rash (that won’t go away when you press it with a glass), and fits. Fits are more common in children. If a person is not treated straight away they can go into a coma and possibly die. Efficacy of vaccine: Infants and young children respond less well to groups A and C vaccine than older people. There is a poor response to group A Meningitis vaccine and little response to group C vaccine in babies under 3 months of age.
  Immunity in children under 18 months will also be of a shorter duration than adults. Little is known about the side-effects.