Hello all,

My wife and I are traveling to Mexico this summer and I was wondering what are the medical precautions we need to take before we go(like vaccinations)?

Also, if we need to have vaccinations, what's the best place to have those done? We live in the Dallas, TX area.

Thanks in advance!

At substantial risk of sounding like a jerk (again), may I politely suggest you go to either CDC, WHO and/or Traveldoc sites and do some reading on your own? You´ll find that not only is Mexico a great big country with lots of variation in, for example, the prevalence of malaria and dengue, but that your own traveling habits and tolerance for risk greatly affect the need for advance and ongoing health interventions.

And not to take anything away from the very reliable, balanced and comprehensive health care information available on this site.....but you´d rather stake your health and the health of your family on what you learn from the CDC than what you hear from some anonymous poster like myself. Right?

Safe journeys,

Mark

markharf, you did take a risk. You rolled the dice and you crashed and burned. Don't go to Vegas. In fact, if you are taking risks in life, knowing what that you will probably fail, like you apparently knew you would, I wouldn't get on a motorcycle again.

And to be honest, I can't believe any kind of world traveler can afford to have your demeanor.
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To all other members here besides markharf, this was my first post here at the HUBB and I was directed here from another message board because I was told that the HUBB was the place where the most experienced riders and travelers shared information.

My intent was to maybe get some people to comment on what they went through in preparation for traveling to Mexico. And I when I say Mexico, I mean all of it. We're traveling from stem to stern and I know the country is big. I didn't realize that the size of the country automatically precluded it from having people give advice about it. Sorry.

I wasn't looking to speak to a doctor either or get treatment online. I was looking for a bit of first hand information on what it would take to prepare, which is what I thought this site was about.

I also asked a question about a clinic in the Dallas area that caters to travelers. Like markharf said, I could go online and find out names and addresses of several different places, and I did before I came here. But I was looking for people's opinions of places they had already been to or learning about places that I hadn't found.

Rest assured I have done research on the CDC's websites and a myriad of others. I was looking for opinions of people who had done the things I'm about to attempt. What was good? What was bad? What do I need to know that the CDC isn't telling me? Surely markharf, doesn't believe that every traveler just needs to read CDC reports and they're good to go wherever?

Once again, I'm sorry if these questions are too extreme for the intellect of this site. If the moderator feels the question doesn't meet the standards here, delete it and I will quietly go back to where I came from.

Otherwise, I'm definitely still open to advice about my original post.

Thanks

Heh heh. Pretty funny. I found this response after riding four hours in the dark from sea level to 13.5k feet on a dirt, single lane road, unmarked and unsignposted, with sheer exposures in multiples of thousands of feet, through the Peruvian Andes. It wasn't bad, really....except for the part where a construction crew had wet the roadway to keep the dust down, yielding a morass of slick, sloppy muck. Oh, and I did this with a stock KLR headlight.

So why do people get so offended when they draw responses to exactly what they wrote? If I post "Hey, I'm going to Africa next month: is it dangerous?" I expect to get roasted---here no less than other sites---or at best totally ignored. If I want to be taken seriously, I state what I already know or have tried, and if I crave worthy information I describe the bits I'm uncertain about.

My own response would have been different if you'd said "I've been studying the CDC recommendations, and it appears that malaria is an issue only in Chiapas and neighboring areas, so I'm wondering which antimalarial to take considering I'll only be in that area for two weeks....." or "I've been looking for travel clinics in my area and I've found several but I wonder if there's anyone on this list who's got a specific recommendation...." or even "What are people's thoughts on the need for a rabies jab? I'm going to be doing volunteer work nursing orphaned vampire bats during this trip, and my doctor thinks it might be a good idea....."

But: "We're going to Mexico....what are the medical precautions we need to take?" End of story? To me, this sort of post seems disrespectful...but maybe that's just me. Again.

To which I'd like to add that anyone, moderators included, who feel that I'm out of line in any way, at any time, are entirely welcome to say so; on or off list. This includes the OP. I promise to listen carefully. In fact, I'm going to post this, then report myself to the moderators to make sure I hear from them directly.

Safe journeys!

Mark

(safely installed in a totally risk-free hotel room in Huarez, Peru)

trampaslake,

And FWIW, a moderator sent me this note:

"Having read this thread, it sounds to me like Mark responded to the first post when he was feeling a bit cranky and out of sorts and now can't quite figure out why he got an equally surly reply. A good example of why email and postings on a website require a little more care and tact in wording than a face to face exchange where it can be clarified right away when you realize the person took it wrong. I can see where the original poster might have felt slapped, if that was his first visit and post. Just my 2 cents worth."

Yup, got it in one.

Much as I dislike them, smilies were invented for a reason - it's the ONLY way you have to indicate emotion / facial expression / joking tone of voice etc. EXTREMELY careful wording is also need to really make it clear what you're thinking.

I've seen literally thousands of posts where what comes across isn't really QUITE what was meant.

'trampaslake' could have clarified that he had already searched around, as it's not clear to me either whether he had or not.

BUT that doesn't mean he needs a slap up the head either. Perhaps a question to start off - "Have you looked...?" would have been more helpful.

We try on this site to HELP everyone as best we can - and we think most of our posters are also very helpful, and do their best, but none of us our perfect. You haven't heard one of my rants about err... well let's not go there...

Now let's all be nice and try and get along shall we

__________________
Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

Since noone else has poked their head above the parapet in case Markharf is still feeling cranky , and pointing out I've never been to Mexico, I'd say get as many jabs as possible as soon as possible, even ones you may not think you need in case you change your plans at short notice.

I got most of mine free at my doctors in Newmarket, and paid for ones at the travel clinic in Cambridge (who were cheeky since they offered to do all of them for a £ without mentioning the GP would do them free), but as thats the UK and nowhere near you I guess that not very helpful!?!

Happy travels!