Of the 7 incredible medical breakthroughts that changed the world, Vaccination is listed as number 1. The other 6 are: Anaesthesia, Epidemiology, Germ theory, Insulin, Gene therapy, and 3D printing, In two posts we will look at three vaccination updates namely: an update on (1) vaccinations for travel, (2) vaccinations for adults, and (3) vaccinations for children.
The prospect of travel gives great excitment. The picture of the plane on the way to land in the feature picture is likely to trigger memories of interesting places we have visited in the past. Hopefully you were not down with any travel acquired infections along the way.
This brings me to the topic of this post — vaccination updates on travel vaccines. It is important that before we embark on our travels that we check out what vaccinations are needed to help us prevent catching infectious diseases in the countries we are about to visit. Travel vaccines for ease of discussion can be grouped into the 3 Rs — Routine, Required, and Recommended.
Routine vaccines
These are vaccines that we would have received when we were young. These are small pox, and tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough (TDAP). If we have received a booster for these vaccines in the last 10 years no booster is required.
Required vaccines – Yellow fever
Yellow fever vaccine is needed for travel to tropical countries in Africa and South America. See Maps of Africa (WHO,2020) and S America (PAHO, 2019) showing areas that are endemic to Yellow Fever. A single dose of 17D Yellow Fever vaccine will give live long protection starting 10 days after vaccination. A certification of vaccination should be obtained from the vaccination centre.
See Table 1 and Maps below. (CDC Yellow Fever Maps, 2019 https://www.cdc.gov/yellowfever/maps/index.html
Other required vaccines – Meningococcal vaccines
Meningococcal vaccines. For travel to Middle East countries meniningococcal vaccinations are required. Check out with your family physician or a travel medicine physician. Do this early too, 4-6 weeks before your travel dates.
Recommended vaccines
The list of recommended vaccines will depend on the endemic diseases present in the countries being visited. Intending travellers need to gather information on travel vaccines needed by visiting their family physicians or a travel medicine physician. Take for example, vaccinations for travellers to Thailand. They should consider getting themselves vaccination against the following:
1-Hepatitis A infection — This can be transmitted through food or water that is contaminated with feces due to poor hygiene during food preparation. Vaccination helps to reduce the risk of such infections through food and water.
2-Typhoid fever – This is also preent in Thailand and can be passed through contaminated food as well. Vaccination against typhoid is thus useful too.
3-Malaria is present in Thailand. Precautions to take are the prevention of mosquito bites by the use of insect repellent, wearing long trousers and long sleeves. Antimalaria drugs will be required particularly if you are visiting forested areas and outlying areas like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Ko Phangan, Ko Samui, Pattaya, Phang Nga, and Phuket.
Clean food and water
Attention to eating food and water that are clean should not be forgotten. Food and drinks at roadside stalls, no matter how tempting are best avoided. Eating freshly cooked food is a good practice. Fruits should be washed with clean water before eating.
Plan ahead
Plan ahead. Have a 4 to 6 weeks of lead time for you to consult your doctor on the vaccinations required for travel. It would also be necessary to have enough time to plan your journey.
Take home messages
Travel vaccines can be divided into routine, required, and recoomended. Plan ahead. Attention to eating food and drinking water that are clean is important.
In the next post we will look at what adult vaccinations are needed to keep us in good health at home.
References for further reading and acknowledgments
- CDC Travel Vaccinations. Global Travaller. https://www.globaltraveler.com/cdc-travel-vaccinations/
- Vaccinations requirements for international travel. Wilkipedia, last updated 10 Jan 2022. Accessed 26 Feb 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaccination_requirements_for_international_travel
Acknowledgments
Thanks are due to:
- Mr Pascal Mieir for the Unsplah picture on plane on way to land.
- CDC Yellow Book, Yellow Fever. in:Chapter 4. Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, 2020
- World Health Organisation (WHO) on Distribution of Yellow Fever by Country in Africa, 2020
- Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) on Yellow Fever cases in A America from 2015 to 2019.
Dr LG Goh
Dr GOH Lee Gan is a retired Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, National University Health System. He has an interest in learning and teaching how we can age well everyday (AWE).
