Historical Lessons: Travel Clinic Before Traveling

The world has seen disease since the beginning of time. The earliest known epidemics was observed in Egypt 1650 BC and lasted about a century. One of the most famous pandemic in modern times leads back to the 2009 swine flu scare. No matter the time or place, lives were lost and humanity suffered.

The Black Death, smallpox, typhus, measles, yellow fever, dengue fever, cholera, influenza, trypanosomiasis, HIV/AIDS, SARS, Ebola, polio, malaria, tuberculosis, Hepatitis B, Swine & Bird Flu. History has claimed millions from widespread infections. Swollen lymph nodes, rampage of the body using the host’s immune system, traumatizing rashes, raised fluid filled blisters, delirium, muscle pain, kopik spots, the list of symptoms goes onward. Sound very pleasant?

Luckily, with the help from vaccinations, smallpox was officially declared eradicated from human society in 1979. With the aid of other immunizations either from birth or routinely implemented other diseases like typhus and measles are rare. Nonetheless, they won’t work unless you actually get the shot.

So why take the risk? We live in a century of tablets, smartphones, and medicine for just about everything. And while the United States of America face few life threatening epidemics, not every country is as fortunate.

If you’re heading internationally for your next vacation, consider hitting up a travel clinic beforehand. Make sure that you have your routine vaccinations updated and you take the necessary shots before heading to a disease-infested country. Though smallpox is gone, others like yellow fever and AIDS are still prevalent. If anything, learn from history and get immunized!

            Want to find a travel clinic? We have one located at 274 Madison Ave, Suite 304, New York, NY if you’re interested. For more information, head over to travel clinic. 

The ABCs of Travel Vaccination

Getting ready for a big trip can be busy and confusing, especially if you’re going somewhere new or far away.  Luckily getting the right vaccinations is as easy as ABC.  In fact, you only need to remember one letter to keep all your necessary vaccinations straight: the letter R.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) organizes vaccines related to travel into three categories: Routine, Required, and Recommended. Keeping informed and up-to-date on the information for each category will make the travel vaccination process as quick and painless as possible as getting a shot can be!

Routine: Chances are if you grew up in the United States you received most or all of the listed routine travel vaccines, including hepatitis A and B, diphtheria, tetanus shot, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, and rubella.  Depending on your age, you may’ve also been vaccinated against tuberculosis, rotavirus, meningitis or varicella.  While all fifty states have specific requirements for childhood vaccinations to be obtained before entering and while attending public school, there aren’t any federal laws, so check in with your physician.  Additionally, some shots require boosters after a certain amount of time; a tetanus shot, for example, should be re-administered every ten years in adults.  Some diseases that are no longer prevalent in the United States still have a presence in other countries, so it’s important to keep your routine vaccinations current.

Recommended: The Center for Disease Control’s list of recommended vaccines varies largely on a country-to-country basis, so check their website and be sure to share your itinerary with your travel health provider.  The CDC’s website has a comprehensive A to Z country listing featuring important travel information for every destination, including immunization and malaria medication recommendations, and up to the minute health bulletins, a valuable tool for any traveler.  Some vaccines that are commonly recommended for travelers, but remain outside the realm of the routine American immunizations are the vaccinations against typhoid and Japanese encephalitis.  Additional immunizations, such as a rabies vaccine, may be required if you’re working with livestock or plan to spend a lot of time in rural areas, so share your activity plans with your doctor as well. 

Additional Seasonal and Patient Health-Based Recommendations: Because airports and planes are overcrowded and have poor air circulation, you may consider getting the influenza vaccine, particularly if you’re travelling during flu season.  For those with asthma or compromised immune systems, an up-to-date flu shot is recommended year-round. Depending on your age and preexisting health conditions, your travel health provider may also include the pneumonia and shingles vaccines on the list of recommendations.

Required: The only vaccine currently required by international regulations is the yellow fever vaccine, mandatory for entry into certain African and South American countries.  Travelers entering these countries will be asked to produce a certificate verifying their receipt of the vaccine upon their entry into the country.  The immunization against viral meningitis is also required for entry into Saudi Arabia during the yearly period of the hajj pilgrimage.

It is recommended that you receive your vaccinations four to six weeks before you travel; this will give the vaccines time to spread through your body and take effect, so make an appointment with your travel health provider as soon as possible!

If you’re based in New York, you can visit the Travel Clinic of New York, where certified travel health providers offer competitive rates, evening and weekend office hours, travel medicine and immunizations (including yellow fever vaccination), and personalized consultations to teach you the ABCs of travel clinic and health on the go!

ABCs of Typhoid Immunization

When you’re visiting a foreign country, trying new and exotic local food can be one of the most exciting parts of your trip. Whether you’re taste-testing Cambodian bay chhar rice or Colombian sanocho soup, learning about new flavors and customs is an experience most travelers look forward to.  But in some developing countries, ingesting local food or water can put your health (and your vacation) at risk by putting you in contact with foodborne diseases like typhoid.  Don’t worry though, protecting yourself from this nasty illness is as easy as ABC!

Typhoid, also known as typhoid fever, is a bacterial infection transmitted by food or water containing the bacterium salmonella typhi. Though the names are similar, typhoid is not the same as typhus, which is caused by different bacteria. Typhoid symptoms are generally divided into four stages, which, if left untreated, each last about a week. In the first week, the patient experience fever, headache and cough, with possible stomach pain and bloody nose. In the second week, the patient has a higher fever, stomach pain, abnormal bowel movements and delirium. In the third week a patient may experience more delirium and dehydration, as well as possible intestinal hemorrhage or perforation, both serious conditions that can be deadly.  However, typhoid is most often not fatal, so if these complications do not occur, the patient’s fever usually reduces in the final week as he or she begins to heal.  After recovery, a small percentage of patients become asymptomatic carriers who no longer experience symptoms themselves, but can still infect others.

If you’re about to go on a big trip outside the States and want to avoid a painful month-long illness, you should find out if typhoid is a concern in your destination country.  The Center for Disease Control recommends the typhoid vaccine for travelers to most south Asian and African, as well as some South American countries, and is especially important for those travelers visiting rural areas with substandard water treatment protocols. You can visit the CDC’s website and talk to your primary care doctor to find out if the typhoid vaccine is necessary for your itinerary.

The typhoid vaccine can be given orally or via injection. The oral dose is a live, weakened version of the disease given in four doses, and the injected dose is the inactive version of the disease, given as a single shot.  Depending on your own health and any previous medical conditions, you should decide with your doctor which version of the vaccine is better for you.  One main difference is that the injected travel vaccination needs to be administered two weeks before travel and should be re-administered every two years, whereas the oral dose should be given one week before travel and lasts for five years.

Neither the oral nor the injected version of the disease is one-hundred percent effective, though, so it’s still important to watch what you eat and drink while you are away from home. Typhoid is mainly a problem when feces or urine comes in contact with food or drinking water, so frequent hand washing and cleanly food preparation is a key component of keeping typhoid and other food-related diseases out of your system.

So whether it’s the African savannah or the Andes Mountains, it’s important to visit a travel health provider before you go, to get vaccinated against typhoid and other infectious diseases prevalent abroad. If you’re based in or around New York City, a visit to the travel doctor NYC is a convenient and affordable way to get yourself up-to-date on your travel immunizations and information. At Travel Clinic NYC, a doctor specializing in travel medicine will consult with you one on one, and give you the ABCs of typhoid immunization and other information important to your health and safety abroad. You can even make a same-day appointment online at Typhoid immunization in NYC.

Who needs a travel immunization? If you’re visiting Brazil, you do! Stop by a travel clinic to learn more.

Different countries present different health risks that travelers need to prepare for. People going to Southeast Asia, for example, are at risk for diseases and illnesses that one won’t find in say, North Africa. But even within one country you’ll find that health risks can vary from region to region, and even from city to city. If you’re planning a trip to Brazil, the kind of Brazil travel immunization you’ll need will depend on what cities you plan on spending most of your time in. For clarity, make an appointment with a doctor at a travel clinic that specializes in travel medicine.

No matter where you’re traveling, everyone should have their essential vaccinations up to date. These are the standard immunizations for vaccine-preventable diseases such as hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, and the routine ones most of us get as children (MMR, DPT, polio, etc.). If you haven’t been vaccinated for any of these in a while, your travel doctor may recommend you get your second round before traveling to Brazil.

The other two vaccinations that the CDC recommends travelers to Brazil get are yellow fever and malaria. But whether you need yellow fever vaccination depends entirely on what cities you plan on visiting.

For yellow fever, the only areas where a vaccination is not recommended are a few coastal cities: San Paulo, Recife, Fortaleza, Salvador, and, everyone’s favorite, Rio de Janeiro. Rio is by far Brazil’s biggest tourist attraction, with almost three million tourists a year. So chances are if you’re reading this you’re probably planning on spending most of your time in this beach friendly city. If this is true, then you do NOT have to worry about getting yellow fever!

You also don’t have to worry about malaria! Like yellow fever, malaria is transmitted through mosquitos, which tend to hang out in the more tropical parts of the country. Thus if you stick to those coastal cities you may only have to get the standard vaccinations listed above.

However, if you’re looking forward to venturing into the more tropical parts of Brazil, then you need to visit a travel clinic for a complete evaluation for what immunizations you will need. To protect yourself from yellow fever, your doctor will recommend you getting the yellow fever vaccination. For malaria, there are antimalarial drugs such as atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, or mefloquine that are suited for Brazil. The CDC strongly warns travelers against the chloroquine malaria drug, stating that it is not effective in protecting one against malaria in Brazil. Be sure to ask your doctor what kind of malaria medication he or she plans on prescribing. You may not be able to pronounce it, but you can sure run it through the CDC’s website to learn more about its side effects and efficiency in Brazil.

Get your Brazil travel immunization in NYC and your other travel medicines at the travel clinic located in New York City, at 274 Madison Avenue between 39^th and 40^th streets. It’s certified to administer the yellow fever vaccination, meaning if you need it you won’t have to go to a second location for it. Just come in and meet with their awesome travel doctor; you’ll leave with everything you need. Visit travel clinic to make an appointment.

Meet with a travel doctor to insure you get exactly what you need for exactly where you’re going. Then enjoy your stay in beautiful Brazil.