BootsnAll Travel Community

Has anyone gotten thier "expensive" vaccinations ater arriving in SEA? Specifically Jap Encephalitis and Rabies? I'd still get, Hep A/B, Thyphoid, Polio Booster, etc... here. Jap Encep and Rabiesw each require a 3 shots spaced within one month and I have to imagine the vaccinations are more common and WAY cheaper in SEA? Perhaps in BKK? or Calcuta?

Locally (So California)
Jap Encp is $125 for each of 3 shots... $375
Rabies is $175 for each of 3 shots... $525!!!!

I suspect they'd be less than 50% of what they cost here, saving $400 would make it worth while to spend an extra week or two within range of a clinc to get the shots before heading into the more rural areas. In my case I'll be in SEA for 6+ months so configuring the start of the trip to avoid Jap Encep is doable, although not ideal.

My biggest concern would be all the potential side affects to the Jap Encep vaccines. I know locally (US) they observe you in the office for 30 minutes after each jab and then you're required to stay within reach of medical facilities for 10 days after receiving the vaccine due to the potential of delayed onset of a reaction to the vacc. That said my local travel vaccine clinc says that in hundreds of doses they've never seen a single reaction... still worries me though. I hate vaccines to begin with, if Jap Encep was treatable and not so nasty I'd probably avoid the vaccine altogether...

Where are you traveling in SE Asia?

I was all over and the travel clinic I went to (where the dr had been an expat volunteer dr in SE Asia for yrs) said that both shots were not worth the expense or hassle. I just got typhoid, hep A/B, tetanus, and meningitis.

PC

quote:

Originally posted by PhotoChick:
Where are you traveling in SE Asia?

Everywhere... At least a month in each of Thaialnd, India and China, a month or so between Laos, Cam, Viet. Possibly Malaysia, Indo, and Bali. It's open ended depending on desire and budget, but it'll be at least 6 months. I'll be spending most of my time outside major cities, and some trekking.

I'm really starting to wondering if the JEV vaccine is worth it. Primarily since I'm going to be "avoiding" mosiquitos anyway to avoid Malaria, Dengue, etc...

Does anyone know what % of the local population gets vaccinated against JEV?

I am still fretting over the JEV and Rabies. I think I'm leaning towards getting the JEV just since there is no real treatment if you get the diesese, and not the rabies since the post-exposure treatment isn't that different than the vaccination regime.

I really go back and forth though. I'll read one article about how the incidence of JE is something like 1 traveler per year, is this right? Then I'll read again about how endemic it is everywhere I'm going.

I'm not sure what would put your mind at ease. If you're really worried about it, you should probably get vaccinated. For what it's worth though, I don't know of any traveler who has gotten the JE vaccination and my personal reasons for not getting it were the same as those you mentioned in your second post. I also didn't get the rabies vaccine but I think if I were traveling to India, I would.

Here's what I heard about the post-exposure rabies shots--true, you still have to get some shots even if you have the vaccine, but you have 72 hours to do so rather than racing the clock to get the shots "immediately."

The problem, from what I've heard, is that in some countries, they either
a)miss the boat completely, and give you a tetanus shot instead of a rabies shot when you explain what happened, or
b) use a horse serum version of the rabies shot, which has a lower efficacy & higher rate of adverse reactions (although that situation is improving with the advent of purified horse serum antibodies) than the human recombinant kind used in the West.

I didn't get the rabies shot, though, either.

http://www.who.int/rabies/vaccines/other_rabies_biolog_product/en/index.html

I just got one rabies shot. It has to be boosted after 3 years, but that's it. Not 3 shots.

Hm--maybe my surgery has the wrong info??

Cost was about 40 quid (80$) but that varies widely.

BTW, it is NOT trivial to get the post exposure treatment!