Yellow fever and Rabies
 

hey all..

I have had most of my jabs for South America now.

The only ones I havnt had are Yellow Fever and Rabies..

The reason I havnt is because they cost a bloody fortune in the UK. £150 each. (yer im cheap)

Now, do I really need them ?? I do want to travel freely over the whole continent. I hear you need the certificate for some borders.

Rabies worries me because its ALWAYS fatal.

:eek3: :eek3: :eek3: :eek3:


Rabies it isn't fatal. If you receive the right treatment.. On your shoes I could be worry about the dog if he bite you maybe he will get some paranoia illness…
Hehehe
Come on mate, stop to be worry and start to enjoy just from now…….
Saludos.

PS. You can get most vaccinations you wont here in BA for less money than there….but not sure for the paranoia …… :oops2: ( I do it again, sorry….)

HAHAH !

You know, this is the bad thing about having family who are doctors and nurses. They tell you to get everything and show you pictures and statisitcs of people getting tropical diseases..

Yellow Fever - Rabies
 

I am no exper tbut ...

Unless you plan on digging a canal in Panama or some such place, I think your risk of Yellow Fever is slim. If you are in the bush for extended period of time - maybe you are cutting illegal tropical hardwoods (for example), use lots of mosquite repellent. Malaria and dengue are two diseases of real concern.

From what I know vaccines for rabies are not common travelers. Maybe a good idea for a vet working with wildlife. Avoid eating monkeys and bats.

Biggest risk is STD - but I won't there.

In Peru they were giving Yellow fever jabs for free few years ago when going to Puerto Maldonado. Based on medical treatment so far everything is far cheaper here than in the UK. And as it is private no queuing!

I traveled all around SA without any shots..... the only place i was required to have the yellow fever (and another one but don't remember the name) and they actually checked was Venezuela... but they gave me both shots for free at the border...

if you are planning to get off the beaten path often then i recommend taking all the precautions.... and enjoy the ride:thumbup1:

I didn't get rabies either (the shot or the disease) and this is what the books told me.

Rabies is transmitted by bites or scratches of infected animals, dogs or vampire bats. Don't sleep in the open (ie hammock and no mozzie net in the jungle) will lessen the risk. Most likely is a dog bite. Obviously the deeper and more serious the bite greater the chances of infection

IF you get bitten you should contact your travel insurance immediately. This is covered as emergency treatment and they can arrange transport to get you the shots, about 5 shots over a few weeks, not very pleasant but better than dying of rabies. As I understand this is required to begin within about 48-72 hours of a bite so capturing the animal to see if they froth at the mouth after a week is a bit late...

Immediate treatment is to wash the wound, I believe they said with bleach and rinse for a good half hour but don't quote me. You could do this while on hold for the travel insurance...

Obviously this is no substitute for a doctor's advice. I almost got bitten when I wandered into an aggressive dog's territory and the exit had me cornered by a fence. Have a read about it on a travel medicine website just to have the knowledge on hand, I don't think it is anything to panic over.

I dropped into the Liverpool School for Tropical medicine today.

I had a private consultation, explained my trip and they said I would be stupid not to get Yellow Fever, Hep B and rabies.

Yellow fever is a major threat in all of the Amazonian basin, all of Colombia and Venezuala and also parts of Bolivia, Paraguay and Uraguay. Sure, its fine in most of SA but if I feel like going somwhere dodgy, I can now. Its £30.

Rabies is a threat all over SA and the doc was telling me that he has treated 2 people who were bitten by dogs chasing motorbikes. (thats before i told him i was going by bike)

It needs 3 shots = £135 in the UK.

Hep B was a personal choice but a good idea for the adventure travellers. Blood transfusions, tatoos and sex with strangers all carry a major risk. Its free on the NHS but because im doing it so late, the NHS cant do it in a short time so i will have to pay for the first 2 privately shots costing £90 :(

Im going to get them done as I want to go to Africa next year too. Ill definately need them there so might as well get covered for both now !!

But the tattoos are the best part! Honestly some of these doctors are a bit naive, how many travellers are going to get a tattoo at a parlour with dirty needles?

Do you have time to get the Rabies shots? I thought they were a 6 week deal? Sounds like a fairly good call in all honesty. I was being a cheap arse.

For £90 in South America they'd give you the shot AND a couple of strangers to have sex with...

With rabies they can do a fast track. I just about have enough time. I get the last shot a day before a fly out :eek3: .

I know i could of got them cheaper over there but i cant be arsed with the hassel.

I know its expensive and I know im probably over preparing, but I've waited so long to do this trip, ill be very anoyed if i end up critically sick or dead ! :)

Paraguay (and Brazil) latest news item about Yellow F
 

Brazil and Yellow fever
 

Brazil does want you to have yellow fever (the shot !!). We got ours free in Puerto Maldonado, Peru (July 07) for free before crossing over, but when we got to Brasileia they said that our little yellow card was no good, but that they would exchange if free for an international one right there at their posta as if we had gotten it there!

So much formality to be so INFORMAL !!! :confused1:

Toby (charapa) Around the Block 2007 |

Good choice on getting the rabies shot.

I don't have one, haven't NEEDED it but there are stray animals all over and dogs do like to chase motorcycles. In my part of Canada they are $600. If I remember I asked about it in Colombia and it was also expensive. I am in a different country and should ask again...

Thanks for the reminder.

j

A friend of mine was bitten by a dog in Costa Rica a year ago, had to do the whole anti-rabies protocol afterward, and didn't die or anything.

I' just rode from Mexico to Panama. I'm headed to South America in three weeks. I wear tall boots and keep my hand on the throttle. I don't have the rabies shots but I carry the yellow fever card in my passport. I did the hepatitis vaccines, and plan on getting a tatoo and ear ring if I make it to Ushuaia.

Today the travel nurse at my clinic told me to get the rabies vaccine. So I'll get it. I don't have time to get all three shots here in the US, so I'll have to get shot number 3 in Panama. I'm going to see if she'll give me a vial of vaccine and let me self-administer it. My insurance (an HMO) pays for each shot. I only have to pay $15 if I see a doctor. Each medicine (cypro, zythro, doxycycline, vicoden) costs me $15.

Rabies is usually fatal if you have not been vacinated against it beforehand, but the vacine only buys you time, you still need treatment. Yellow fever, officially you do need the card, (its an UN body that issues it) You can be asked at borders if you have it, and if you dont you can be denied entry. But saying that I am just finished my trip now, and was never asked for it.

But my advice is this, when it comes down to a shot of £150, do you really want to risk your life or your health over it.. I am sure that if you were laying in the morgue or intensive care you will be saying why didnt i pay for the ****ing shot. I have the same opinion about cheap helmets! :thumbup1:

Tomorow I get my first rabies shot. A week later, my second. I'll have to get shot#3 in Panama or Colombia.

If I'm bitten by a dog, or anything else, I'll still need to get a couple of anti-rabies shots, but it's not as urgent of a problem. The travel-nurse says that if a person who has not been vaccinated gets bitten, then they need to get the rabies shots ASAP, meaning that it's a fly-home-for-treatment kind of problem. With the vaccine already administered, you can last a couple of days before you absolutely must get the first shot.

In Central America you're not usually more than a day away from a large city, but South America is a lot bigger. "Remote" is redefined, as I look at it on the map. Add the usualy delays, and I bet I'd be lucky to get a rabies shot within two days.

What is real?
 

Ted, majority trained in medicine and practicing medicine will tell you to get just about any "jab" available, part of the reason is, if God forbid, you do get yellow fever, rabies or whatever, they might be held responsible if they had advised otherwise.

I have lived for 12 years in Mexico, Central America and South America. I have traveled by every conceivable mode of transportation, I lived without electricity and running water for 2 of the 12 years in an area with little or no public health services, pleanty of yellow fever and accordiong to reports pleanty of rabies.... I have bush camped for more nights then I care to remember. I have been in fights and in love many times while south of the border. Here is my opinion.

Paraguay has a yellow fever outbreak and as I just warned Jeff Condon, now near the infected area, the officials are spot checking foreigners (mostly Parguayans, but any foreigner will do) for their yellow fever certificate. Get the yellow fever shot, if for no other reason as if you don't have it you may be denied entry when traveling from an infected area to the next country.

I had full series rabies shots, as preventative medicine.. You get them in the belly over about 6 weeks, one a week as I remember, they hurt like hell. I have seen only one rabid animal with full blown rabies, it was a bull in Costa Rica that kind just stood still, then charged around, not chasing anything in particular and in general disrupted the village until it was chased out into a fied and shot.

As a veteran rider, you know you will be chased by dogs, on average every 400 K or so, and about 2% to 5% will attempt to nip your boots. A few, very few even come close.

Therefore, I would not get the rabies series. unless you are going really "out there" with no fast way back.... Check Lonely Planet Book "Healthy Travel Central & South America" page 376 and other pages...for antibiotics you can carry with you for immediate treatment of an animal bite.

If you are bitten by any animal, optimally, the animal should be captured or killed, either way, it can be determined if the animal has rabies or not. Also, this will protect others from being bitten.

WASH WOUND WITH LOTS OF SOAP AND WATER FLOW WATER OVER WOUND APPLY ANTISEPTIC SOLUTION LIKE POVIDONE-IODINE DIRECTLY TO WOUND FOR ANY ANIMAL BITE THIS WILL HELP. see "Healthy Travel..."book for more on treatment.

Of course read the Lonely Planet "Healthy Travel...... so you will know the symptoms to look for and exactly how to treat yourself... If needed, remember, the local rabies injections, may be derived from non human tissue, and have devesdating side effects, so if you are bitten, pull out all the stops and get some imported human vaccine, available in most major cities . Have it sent by taxi/police etc... if necessary, or get yourself to a major city fast.

Only you can make the decisions regarding your preventative "jabs" hope sharing my experiences has helped.... xfiltrate.

Hi Goetz y Karine
 

Mire, Goetz ha informaciones sobre el tiempo permitidad a dejar sus motos en mi "thread" How to Buy New/Used in Argentina" Le pedi a la gente esta informacion de parte suyo, hasce unos dias. Algunas ha respondididos.

Take a look at the last several posts, might be helpful to com directly with those who posted via private message. We are planning the next month or two, when will we see you?

Everything fine here. xfiltrate

This was because you were actually bitten by an animal whose rabies status was unkown, right?

Your advice on wound washing is excellent. I'd just like to add that the iodine solution should be very dilute. Mix iodine with clean water so that the solution is just dirty-brown, otherwise the iodine will destroy otherwise healthy tissue. Wash for several minutes.

No Choice in the matter.
 

It could be different now, but in the sixties during training, which was also part of the selection process, all potential Peace Corps volunteers were given injections. The shots we all hated were the rabies "series" I remember the intense stinging pain to this day and becoming very sick. This was, "required" for all volunteers going to Costa Rica. No one contested the injections. It was a different time and a much different mentality, we all trusted the medical advice we were given.

Furthermore, about half our group never made it through training, by their own choice or perhaps because the training was so rigorous. During training, not taking your rabies shots would have been like saying Peace Corps is not for me. I took them.

I was never bitten by any animal during 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica or after. I did see one rabid bull as described in my previous post. I have seen many newspaper articles and public health warnings about rabies throughout Mexico, Central and South America. If it had been my preference I would have lived without taking the rabies shots. Anything that hurt that much just could not be good. If I ever do get bitten, I might change my mind.
Do you happen to know how long the rabies shots are good for?
xfiltrate

Rabies is fatal if untreated.
 

Rabies is a nasty piece of work.

It is fatal, with an incubation period is very unpredicatable. Reasons for the vaccine: it might save your life. Reasons agaisnt: its expensive, it hurts, but what what tipped the scales for us was that it is no guarantee. If you are in the sticks and a day or more from a hospital for the obligatory post exposure treatment, you then find that the vaccine, which is more of an extended grace period (as I see it) is suddenly no longer any good.

My best advice would be preventative action: for starters be very weary of any animal that does not seem scared of you, or any animal behaving eratically (that goes for drivers too!! ;)).

I'#m not saying get the jab or don't but certainly don't rely on it as a get out of jail free card the way we do with typhoid and diptheria jabs, coz it ain't!