Travel Vaccinations for VFRs leaving NYC

Thanks to current travel flight affordability and availability now more than ever immigrants can maintain ties with their relatives abroad. By simply clicking a few buttons online anyone can hop on a commercial flight to reconnect with one’s original homeland, and first and second generation children are taking advantage of it. Only 12% of the US population is listed as foreign born, but 34% of Americans traveling internationally list Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFRs) as a reason for travel. In less than a 12 hour flight hordes of people are reconnecting with old friends and family in their or their parent’s country of origin.
Yet these types of travelers should be particularly mindful about their health while abroad, especially considering where their origins may lie. Immigration trends to the United States have changed in recent American history. New York City’s streets no longer feel the thud of the many Italian, Irish and German immigrants that poured in from Europe at the start of the 20^th century. Immigration patterns have shifted to other countries over the past 30 years, with more individuals and families coming from Latin American, Asia and Southeast Asia than anywhere else. Alas, these areas are at particularly high risk for certain infectious diseases such as malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, hepatitis A and STDs. Knowing this all travelers should get the proper travel vaccination before taking off. Yet VFRs seem less likely than anyone to get vaccinations, and thus disproportionately contract contagious diseases while abroad. According to the Center for Disease Control, 66% of typhoid cases seen in the United States are brought over by travelers who were visiting friends and family, mostly in Latin America and South Asia. South Asia also exports 90% of the paratyphoid cases seen in the United States. The CDC found that in 2008, 65% of the malaria cases brought in by people traveling abroad came from VFRs. These types of travelers have been found to be 8 times more likely to contract malaria than any other type of tourist. A large handful of travelers have died of typhoid upon returning to the US after seeing their friends and family. Why does this happen?Much of it is explained by the pre-travel habits of people visiting their country of origin. Persons visiting friends and family tend to stay for longer periods of time in high risk areas for disease. Taking advantage of free room and board, they also tend to stay in homes instead of hotels. This directly exposes them to the local lifestyle that often implies lack of water and food precautions and mosquito repellent techniques such as bed nets, all habits that put travelers at risk for infection. People visiting their homeland also tend to dismiss health warnings from a travel doctor about the area, for they feel their heritage and connection with it gives them some kind of immunity. It is true, to an extent, that many peoples living within their country of origin do develop immunities to local diseases, but this does not mean that these immunities will stay intact after years of separation from that area. You live in an area long enough your body begins adapting to the new environment. Yet VFRs tend to largely forget about or not know about this.All VFRs should take advantage of available travel vaccinations NYC recommended for the country they wish to return to. People immigrate to the US in part due to its accessible health benefits, and immunizations are a major privilege available in this country. Visit this NYC travel clinic if you live in or nearby NYC. It is convenient, reasonably priced, and operates with a skilled, trustworthy staff of health professionals. When you visit you’ll benefit from one-on-one consultations with a board certified travel doctor that will carefully review your travel case and access your health needs before you go abroad.
Do not dismiss health warnings regarding your home country because you feel they do not apply to a “native.” Visit TravelClinicNY.com to learn more about how to protect yourself.

Overseas drugs often counterfeit, receive the proper travel immunization in Manhattan

During the Partnership for Safe Medicines’ Interchange Conference in 2010, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg read an alarming statistic that “in certain parts of the world, somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of drugs to treat serious diseases are actually counterfeit.” Hamburg then emphasizes that due to limited surveillance she feels uncertain whether these shocking numbers even truly represent “the magnitude and scope of the problem,” which she believes “is growing every day.”

While Hamburg’s team claims to be making strides in protecting US citizens from imported tampered with medicines, her organizations cannot respectfully guard Americans who travel out of the FDA’s range of influence. This is certainly true for people who do not receive the proper travel immunization medications before venturing into developing countries that lack adequate regulation of transported drugs.

People especially traveling to sub-Saharan Africa put themselves at a high risk of contracting malaria, an infectious disease transmitted by mosquitos, with little assurance of receiving reliable drug therapy. According to a survey conducted by the World Health Organization in 2003 between 20 and 90 percent of antimalarial drugs that were tested in seven different African countries failed to meet quality standards. This proves troubling as every country surveyed (Kenya, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Gabon, Zimbabwe and Sudan) are considered areas endemic for malaria disease by the Center for Disease Control.

Reasons for this vary, but the WHO charges that changing prescription techniques, poor medical facilities and a growing criminal market all attribute to these areas distributing faulty antimalarial drugs.  As the malaria virus has mutated and become more resistant to medications over the years more physicians are combining different medicines for patients, which leaves more room for counterfeit drugs to get into the mix. Poverty in these areas also leads to underfunded laboratories, poorly trained physicians, poor drug handling and bad manufacturing practices. And as popularized in the recent “60 Minutes” nine-month investigation, there has been a recent acceleration all over the world in drug counterfeiting and cargo theft.

Fake antimalarial drugs in other countries are typically packaged to look like brand name drugs. They are ineffective usually because they contain less than the required amount of active ingredient, lack the active ingredient all together, or are cut with harmful substances. Medical facilities in poorer countries also tend to carry low quality antimalaria medication that use cheaper and not as affective ingredient alternatives. Another counterfeit technique is selling expired drugs that are repackaged with new expiration dates.

Untreated or poorly treated malaria can kill you, as it does over 800,000 people a year, according to the WHO. Nobody traveling to endemic areas should risk their health and life by depending on hospitals local to the area when they have access to more trustworthy clinics in the US.

If you are traveling soon and live in the tri-state area, visit this travel clinic in NYC to get the proper travel immunization medicines to assure you have a safe journey. You’ll be helped by a board certified doctor will years of experience in travel health. Wherever you’re going, travel medicine office nyc can provide you with all the information, health advice and needed vaccinations/medicines for you before embarking on your journey.

Visit get travel immunization in NYC office or call 212-696-5900 to learn more about protecting your health abroad.

Need to escape NYC for a while? Visit a travel immunization clinic first

New York City is like a jungle unnaturally overpopulated with primates. People hang from fire escapes howling at people walking by trying to cover their heads from dripping air conditioners and rove wads of spit. Cars move like grazing livestock, tapping the break as often as we blink. Commercial vehicles sound like elephants at stop lights and fart hot, black smoke into the face of men dipping into yellow cabs, which themselves seem like fifty different breeds of dogs bred to serve New Yorkers.  There are people everywhere dealing with constant invasion from the lesser species of rodents and insects into their homes. Our canopy consists of drying wardrobes and peeling advertisements while skyscrapers sit like mountain ranges that have been thoroughly mined within.

I sit in my living room in an old neighborhood in Brooklyn and I wonder: how many people have lived in my apartment and sat in this room dreaming of an escape?

Detox, let your pores breath for a while, and escape for a week or two after visiting a travel clinic in NYC. Pull your bathing suits down from storage and travel to Central or South America and do nothing but sunbathe and relax. Every New Yorker deserves a break from squeezing into subway cars and eating stale bagels every day. Spread out in the sand and order a drink at noon. Wake up late, read a book without people peering over your shoulder, walk outside holding nothing but sunglasses.

Now more than ever traveling is affordable and convenient. Commercial airlines offer daily flights that last no more than 15 hours nonstop, no matter where you want to go. Popular websites such as Priceline.com and Expedia.com offer discounted flights, hotels and coupons that make getting deals as easy as a clicking your mouse. It can literally take 15 minutes to book a roundtrip flight and a week stay at a resort in Rio de Janeiro. And because tourism flourishes the closer you get to the equator a large percentage of people speak English, the concierge at your hotel may even know someone from your hometown.

And by living in a tri-state area you have convenient access to travel immunization in NYC offices that will ensure you receive the proper medications and vaccines before you leave. Take advantage of pre-travel consultation from a trained travel doctor before going anywhere. Different countries, even different areas within the same country, all have unique health issues that travelers should be aware of. The best way to protect your health while abroad is by visiting a clinic that specializes in travel medicine for a consultation 4 to 6 weeks prior to leaving. Even if you’re leaving tomorrow you can still benefit from meeting with a travel health professional today to take care of any issues you may not be aware you’ll have when traveling to your destination.

Check out this travel immunization clinic next time that car alarm goes off outside your window at 5am. Just found yourself getting irritable at an older woman walking too slow ahead of you? It’s time you got out of this town for a week. If you need travel medicine buy your plane ticket, then make an appointment to meet with an experienced travel doctor who will prepare you for your holiday. Just take that train you know so well up to 42^nd street at either Bryant Park or Grand Central and walk a couple of blocks down to discuss your travel needs with their helpful staff.

It’s time for a real vacation south of the city, and I don’t mean Florida. Log onto their website or call 212-696-5900 to start preparing for your escape.

Get a typhoid vaccination in NYC so next time you travel you can actually drink the water

There are about 400 cases of typhoid found in the United States per year, which is relatively small considering that 75 percent of these cases occurred in Americans who had recently traveled outside of the United States. Further yet, a portion  of the 25 percent of domestic cases can be traced to international products consumed in this country. In August of 2010, for example, Goya and La Nuestra companies were forced to recall all of their frozen mamey pulp products after they were linked to a handful of typhoid cases reported on the West Coast. Their contaminated product, mamey pulp, is a tropical fruit grown mostly in Central and South America, meaning that the bacteria was most likely imported into this country, not formed within. So the US, as with most developed nations, manages to control typhoid pretty well.

Underdeveloped countries, some of which tend to be wonderful vacation spots, do not fare so well. According the Center for Disease control about 21.5 million people in the developing world contract typhoid fever every year. In the past decade, United States residents traveling to Latin American, Asia and Africa have experienced especially high frequencies of typhoid. If you plan on traveling to any of these areas you should avoid this sickness by getting a typhoid vaccination NYC at a certified travel clinic weeks before you take off.

For it is almost impossible to avoid a disease that manifests within the food and water of the country you visit. Tyhpoid fever spreads when humans swallow foods and water that has been contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella Typhi. These microorganisms live in the stool of infected persons, and can in more ways than you’d like to imagine make its way into your mouth.  For example food is often spoiled when handled by someone sick with the disease that works in conditions where proper hand washing procedures are not enforced. Water proves a risk because local drinking water in countries with poorly maintained sewage systems is at times polluted with Salmonella Typhi, leading to the traveler’s common motto: “Whatever you do, don’t drink the water.”

Once ingested the bacteria multiplies and spreads throughout the bloodstream, causing the body to react with fever of 103 to 104 degrees. People also tend to experience severe headaches, abdominal pains and loss of appetite. People who do not get treated with antibiotics can sustain a fever and other symptoms for months, with as many as 20 percent dying due to complications from the bacteria.

If you plan on traveling to an area where typhoid fever is common you should visit a travel center to get a typhoid vaccination to prevent infection. Make sure to make an appointment at least 3 weeks prior to departure to ensure the immunization will take affect before you land in your destination.  Also, just because you’ve received a vaccine for typhoid once before does not mean you are not due for another; the vaccine loses its potency after several years. You can check with your travel doctor to find out if you are due for another shot.

If you live in or nearby New York City, make an appointment with this travel clinic in NYC located in Midtown. Your doctor carefully considers your entire itinerary to make sure you have all the needed medications and vaccines you need. Importantly, this clinic is also affordable, and clearly lists its pricing for vaccinations on its website at TravelClinicNY.com. Check it out to conveniently compare their prices with other clinics.

Log onto oral typhoid vaccination to make an appointment or call their office at 212-696-5900. You shouldn’t have to feel nervous about drinking water and enjoying local cuisine while abroad. Get vaccinated.

When you lack the evolutionary advantage, get the malaria vaccination in NYC

According the Center for Disease Control, each year nearly 1,500 people are diagnosed with malaria in this country, mostly in travelers returning from high risk zones. Every year, millions of people from the United States travel to malaria endemic regions, especially sub-Saharan Africa, and put themselves at risk to the disease. Once infected, individuals can suffer from high fever, headache, anemia, and inflammation of the spleen. Those who develop cerebral malaria, when the disease attacks the brain, commonly suffer from insanity, unconsciousness and, often, death.

Yet people living within developed countries have the privilege of convenient access to anti-malaria drugs and vaccinations. A prospective traveler in the US can substantially lower his or her risk of contracting the disease by visiting a travel clinic and receiving a malaria vaccination that builds immunity against it. Not all countries benefit from these life-saving immunizations. 

It is likely that malaria has killed more people worldwide, especially children, than any other infectious disease. The World Health Organization reports that over 40% of the world’s population lives in malaria zones. Every year 300-500 million people are affected by it, including one million children under the age of 6 that die of it every year. The disease can have devastating effects on individuals and communities badly affected by it, with sometimes severe political and economic ramifications. But do local peoples, with little to no access to anti-malaria vaccinations or travel clinic, have defenses against malaria infection?

An interesting aspect of microevoultion theory is how it explains the existence of certain heritable yet terminal diseases that refuse to be naturally weeded out of human populations. Skeptics of Darwin ponder how evolutionary theory by means of natural selection supports itself in cases like sickle-cell anemia, which creates abnormal hemoglobin that in turn misshapens and injures red blood cells, preventing them from adequately carrying oxygen from the lungs to the rest of the body. Why hasn’t this unfavorable trait been naturally selected out of populations? And which population can benefit from malaria prevention NYC?

One important marvel is how people that are heterozygous for sick cell anemia, meaning they carry one allele of it by mean of their mother or father, actually have strong survival genes against malaria. The explanation is surprisingly simple: The malaria virus attacks the host by invading its red blood cells where it replicates and spreads by infecting other red blood cells. But individuals who are heterozygous for Sickle Cell Anemia do not have enough healthy red blood cells for the virus to infect and grow in, thus inhibiting malaria to grow strong and overtake host. Thus is it an advantage for people living in malaria endemic regions to be heterozygote for Sickle Cell Anemia, granting it as a favorable trait to be passed on to future generations.

And it has, with sickle cell carrier frequencies at almost 40% in some African populations, where malaria has thrived for thousands of years. You’ll see similar statistics in Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Indian populations where malaria resides. Microevolution theory gives us a fascinating example of how individuals within these populations have survived malaria environments with the aid of a usually life-threatening disease.

Yet most Americans have not developed this advantage, and need to get a malaria vaccination before entering any of these countries. If you live in or nearby NYC, visit this travel doctor NYC located in Midtown. It sits in between 39^th and 40^th street, just two blocks from the Bryant Park and Grand Central transit locations. The staff will answer all your concerns and offer expertise advise about maintaining your health while your abroad. Call 212-696-5900 or visit Travel Clinic New York  to make an appointment.

When you lack the evolutionary advantages, let modern medicine pick up the slack. Take advantage of travel vaccinations.

Guard your health abroad by visiting one of many travel clinic located in New York

Going abroad? Before taking off ask yourself these questions to see if you’ve taken the right steps to guard your health from disease and infection while in another country.

Have you made an appointment to visit a travel clinic?

Everyone living in the tri-state area that is traveling overseas should visit one of the many travel clinics in New York before leaving to get accurate, up-to-date information on the health risks you take by visiting a particular country. You should meet with a travel physician 4 to 6 weeks before traveling to guarantee enough time for certain medications to take effect, especially for some vaccines that are distributed in a series, with days and sometimes weeks lapsing between each shot.

Do you know what vaccinations you need?

A trained travel doctor will tell you what immunizations you need, but it’s helpful to do some research about the country you to plan to visit and see what the Center for Disease Control recommends for Americans traveling there.  The CDC breaks down travel vaccines into three categories: those that should be routine, those that are recommended, and those that are required.

Routine Vaccinations
Routine travel vaccinations protect from diseases that, while uncommon in the United States, are oftentimes endemic in other parts of the World. Every adult planning to travel should update his or her immunizations. Adults should get one dose of the influenza vaccine every year, a tetanus booster every ten years, 1 or 2 dozes of the measles/mumps/rubella vaccine before age 50, and all women should get the 3 doses of the Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine before age 28, to name a few. Check with your travel physician to see what routine vaccinations you are in need of.
Recommended Vaccinations
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the CDC organize and inform us of the recommend vaccinations for U.S. travelers. They are based on the country they wish to travel to but can also depend on how rural the area, the season you’ll be traveling in, how long you’ll be there, how old you are, your current health concerns, and whether you’ve had any previous immunizations.
Required Vaccines
Currently there are only two vaccines that are required by law for travel into certain countries. The first is the yellow fever vaccination for travel to tropical parts of South America and parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The second is the meningococcal vaccination required for entry into Saudi Arabia. You will need to visit a certified travel clinic to receive an authorized travel immunization certificate to get clearance for these vaccinations.

Are you traveling with children?
There are different recommendations and vaccination procedures for children traveling abroad that adults need to take special care with before traveling with them. Children are especially susceptible to infectious diseases overseas, especially infants; for example nearly one million children under the age of 6 die every year from malaria. If you are traveling with children it is especially important you visit a travel clinic to access their needs.

If you’re looking for travel vaccination clinic New York visit this travel clinic located in Midtown. It’s located in between 39^th and 40^th street, two blocks from the Grand Central and Bryant Park transit locations. This travel clinic in Manhattan staff is incredibly personably yet professional, and can answer all your concerns about how to maintain your health while you’re abroad. To make an appointment you call 212-696-5900 or visit TravelClinicNY.com.

Every child needs a tetanus vaccination, and I know the right clinic for it in NYC

If you have a child that will be entering kindergarten or preschool soon, chances are he or she needs to get a tetanus vaccination nyc shot very soon.  You may not remember getting one, but if you were born in the United States within the last 60 years you more than likely received one as part of the routine child immunization schedule for all US residents.  Today, there are almost no elementary schools in the country that do not require proof of immunization boosters for children seeking admittance into their program. But don’t feel annoyed by this, as tetanus is a serious, lethal infection and a vaccine is the most effective way to prevent it.

Tetanus is caused by the bacteria Clostridium tetani found in contaminated soil, dust and animal feces. If your child is playing outside and cuts his or herself and then comes into contact with the bacteria it may enter directly into their blood stream. Once infected, tetanus toxins will attack the motor neurons, the nerves in the body that help control muscle movements. Your child will then experience muscle stiffness and spasms in the jaw and neck muscles, a condition commonly expressed as “lockjaw.” Following symptoms include difficultly in swallowing, stiff abdominal muscles, overall painful body spasms, which all can interfere with their ability to breathe and inevitably threaten their life. The tetanus vaccine lowers their risk to this infection substantially.

If you are unfamiliar with travel shots, you should know that their introduction into modern medicine was like a miracle for the human species. In the past millions of people used die from bad cuts or injuries that become contaminated. Now, vaccines prevent this by strengthening our immune system, whose job is to protect our bodies from infection and illness. When foreign viruses and bacteria enter our body our immune system responds by producing antibodies, acting like little soldiers in our body that fight infection and disease for us.

More importantly, once our body makes these antibodies it will be more prepared for the next invasion, understanding the bacteria better. This is why people who have had chickenpox almost never get it again as adults, even if in close contact with this contagious disease again. Vaccines stimulate the antibody process. The Tdap vaccine in nyc  introduces this process without getting the individual sick.  A small amount of the bacteria is inserted into the individual in order to promote antibody growth in the immune system. If you need to explain this to your child, it’s sort of like training your troupes for battle. When the enemy does arrive, your body will be strong and familiar enough with it to defeat it.

Many parents have expressed concerned over vaccines, but they have a long record of being safe and incredibly effective in preventing disease. The risk of a vaccine harming your child is nothing compared to the risk you put them in by not preparing them against tetanus.

You can get your child their tetanus shot safely and quickly at this conveniently located travel clinic in new york.  When you come in you’ll meet with a board certified doctor, not a nurse practitioner like with most clinics. Their general staff is incredibly professional and respectful of your time, with waiting times rarely exceeding thirty minutes for walk-ins. As a travel clinic, they specialize in vaccinations, so you can feel certain your child will interact with an incredibly proficient and experienced doctor.

Call them today at (212) 696 5900 or log onto travel clinic new york to start your child’s tetanus vaccine.