Five types of malaria prophylaxis vaccination drugs available for travel protection

Malaria has been extinct in the United States since the early 1950s. Thanks to intense government interventions in the early 20^th century, contracting malaria within the U.S. is now almost impossible.

What is not impossible, however, is catching the sickness in another country and carrying it back into the country. Every year, about 1,500 United States travelers bring malaria home with them.

If you know the country you are traveling experiences malaria outbreaks, you must seek the proper malaria prophylaxis, or, medicines that prevent malaria. Nobody living in the United States should visit unindustrialized nations or rural parts of the world without looking into getting a travel vaccination. Even if you’re originally from the country you plan on visiting, you are not immune to its local diseases. People who don’t take preventative measures to protect their health while abroad are putting their bodies at risk for infection.

For malaria, there are five types of malaria medicine available for travelers, each with different benefits and issues:

Doxycycline
This inexpensive medicine can be taken a day before taking off, which can be very convenient for travelers who do not visit a travel clinic at least two weeks before leaving. But this cheaper brand has common side effects such as stomach ache and skin sensitively. It may also trigger yeast infections in women who are prone to them.

Atovaquone/Proguanil (Malarone)
This drug can also be conveniently taken only one to two days before landing in your destination country, but it tends to be more expensive. However, unlike its cheaper counterpart, Doxycycline, Malarone affords little to no side effects.

Primaquine
This is the final daily medicine available that can also be taken one to days before leaving. It’s different in that it is specifically designed for the P. vivax species of malaria. If the area you plan on traveling to carries this species of malaria, then Primaquine is right for you.

Chloroquine
If you’re taking a long trip somewhere, this pill is convenient because it is only taken weekly. It is also safe for pregnant women.

Mefloquine (Lariam)
Just like Chloroquine, this drug is taken weekly and is safe for pregnant women. Also similar to Chloroquine, travelers need to start taking Lariam two weeks before leaving the country.

These drugs cannot be taken by everybody and are not efficient everywhere. People taking other medications or that have certain health problems need to speak with a physician about possible complications. There are also parts of the world resistant to certain types of malaria medication. For example, Chloroquine will not protect travelers going to Brazil, Afghanistan and many other countries.

Before you leave the country, meet with a travel physician that will help you decide which malaria prophylaxis is right for you. For medication that yields the fewest side effects, plan on starting the medicine two weeks before taking off. You may also need another type of travel vaccination for diseases such as typhoid, hepatitis A and hepatitis B, which are common in many parts of the world.

Meet with Dr. Slava Fuzayloff, a travel clinic NYC physician located at 274 Madison Avenue, for a complete evaluation. To learn more about him and his services, you can visit travel vaccination. Don’t let malaria end up as a bad souvenir you bring home with you; get the proper preventive medicine.

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.

Keep Repeating, “It’s just a pin prick. It’s just a…” Why & Where to Get a Yellow Fever Shot in NYC

Getting shot in NYC may not sound like something you’d wish for, but if your plans include an overseas journey and the shot is an inoculation for yellow fever all of a sudden it starts to sound pretty smart. It all boils down to that protection-thing again, and as anyone who has ever crossed the Atlantic or Pacific for work, holiday or vacation knows—a vaccination first could save a lot of money and misery later on.

Yellow fever still runs rampant in large areas of the world. If planning a trip to any country in Africa or to countries in Central or South America, a yellow fever shot should be administered to protect against acquiring this disease. We live isolated, in a pretty healthy part of the world—with NYC one of the best cities in the country when it comes to medical care. With all the fuss about health care these days, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how safe we are in the western world when it comes to diseases like yellow fever.

On large swaths of globe yellow fever is still a dangerous potentiality —and according to the World Health Organization—it infects almost a quarter of a million people a year. Out of this number a shocking 30,000 will die. The proper protection—via a yellow fever inoculation—can only be had at a certified travel clinic. In fact, many countries will not even allow entry until they see proof of this shot. In NYC you have many choices as to where to receive this potentially life-saving shot.

What is yellow fever and why is still dangerous in some parts of the world? Yellow fever is a serious disease caused by a virus and spread through the bite of an infected mosquito. (In NYC we have our fair share of mosquitoes but they are safe as they are not infected with the virus that causes yellow fever.) It is not possible to catch yellow fever from another person. It can only be caught if you are bitten by an infected insect. Monkeys also carry the disease and a bite from one of them can also transfer the infection, but since not too many people are being bitten by monkeys these days (even on the wildest of vacations!) we’ll stick to the mosquito mode of transmission in this article.

The “yellow” in the name yellow fever refers to the jaundice-like symptoms that affect some sufferers. Jaundice is the yellowing of the skin caused by a breakdown of liver function. Other symptoms of yellow fever include fever and flu, vomiting blood, liver, kidney, respiratory and other organ failure that can lead to death if the travel vaccination is not administered.

Throughout history yellow fever has caused some devastating epidemics resulting in catastrophic causalities. One such deadly outbreak occurred in 1802 when the disease struck French soldiers fighting in Haiti. Statistics reveal that up to half the entire French army was killed by this frightening disease. A little closer to home (but thankfully not NYC), over 5,000 people in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania were infected by yellow fever when political refugees from the Caribbean arrived and spread the virus

 Being a proud citizen of America, and NYC in particular, you can choose one of many certified travel clinics to administer your yellow fever vaccination in nyc. Log onto Travel Clinic NYC for more information on a great neighborhood facility located just blocks from Grand Central Station. Travel Clinic in NYC is run by a board-certified medical doctor whose specialty is inoculations and vaccines for all manner of travelers. Call 1-212-696-5900 to arrange an appointment today!

Putting an Old Wives Tale to Rest & Where to Receive a Tetanus Vaccination in NYC

NYC is not the first place you think of when you think about tetanus. If you’re anything like me you think about moss-covered wooden shacks and rusty nails jutting out from old decrepit floorboards. Since not many people think like me (I’m an American original, you see…) you probably have a better idea than I do regarding the possibility of tetanus infection. And what causes it. I just learned there was a vaccination for it, so that proves I know next to nothing. Well I DID know next to nothing, but I did my research for this article. Travel with me, if you will, through a non-fictitious landscape where tetanus abounds!

Enough with the corny poetry-esque sentences, let’s discuss tetanus vaccination NYC, What It Is, Its Symptoms and Its Vaccination, shall we? We shall. As previously stated, I whole-heartedly once believed that tetanus was caused by stepping on a rusted nail. At least that’s what I had heard throughout my long (-ish) life, attending summer camps and being a generally inquisitive-type brat. I am sure I am not the only kid from NYC who believed that tetanus was caught by stepping on a rusted nail. (After briefly questioning a few friends, it would seem my belief in this old wives tale has been confirmed.)

Let’s take a look at why this old wives tale has flourished. Tetanus is a bacterial disease that affects the nervous system. Anyone can catch it, whether from NYC or a small town in Oklahoma. Before this disease ravages the entire body it begins in the facial muscles, thus it has long been referred to as Lockjaw. Tetanus is only spread through an already existing wound where the bacteria can enter the bloodstream. The bacteria are found primarily in agricultural areas such as dirt, soil and animal manure. Herein lays the reason for the rusted nail myth…

Wherever there is dirt, soil and animal manure there’s probably going to be a few rusted nails poking up out of a few boards! The rusted nail does not cause the disease, rather it is the texture of the rusted nail which may harbor the bacteria that already exists in the surrounding dirt (soil and manure). It is recommended that anyone who spends a great deal of time outdoors—whether for fun or employment—should receive a tetanus vaccination. That includes anyone who works outdoors in NYC. Unfortunately, our fellow Americans know not the abundance of the green spaces in NYC. (It really is a shame. We have such lovely parks.)

The travel vaccination for tetanus is different from many other vaccinations in that it is a multi-step process. Most people receive the vaccination when they are children as a step toward entering school. However, travel shots are highly recommended if in a high risk group. Anyone who spends a large amount of time working in or around soil outdoors should contact a certified travel clinic and discuss with a doctor the risks associated with their lifestyle.

Untreated tetanus can cause spasms of the vocal chords and respiratory muscles, fractures of bones, hypertension, coma and even death. Vaccination is the best bet when attempting to safeguard your good health. There are many certified travel clinic in NYC ready and able to administer the vaccination for tetanus.

In fact, if one currently resides in NYC and are in need of a travel clinic for any reason—including a tetanus vaccination—look no further than TravelClinicNY.com. This highly respected medical facility is located in the heart of midtown Manhattan and is easily accessible by both train and bus. Call 1-212-696-5900 to arrange an appointment today. And like mother always said, “Don’t play in the dirt!”

Travel Clinic Convenience. NYC and Nicaragua

NYC is the home of concrete monoliths, gargantuan cement pillars, teeming masses and less-than-fresh air. The world at large is a huge place filled with trees, leaves, wild animals and crystal clear sweet breezes. There is space in one’s life for both. Before one ships—or jets—off to one of these wild regions, a visit to a travel clinic is recommended. Ironically, it is the beautiful places that hold the most severe danger. In NYC a switchblade will squash most threats, in the wider world, in the exotic locales, it is the vaccination!

Take the volcano-riddled landscape of Nicaragua for instance. The history of this rather tiny Central American country is fascinating, filled with fun and firearms. Although it is one of the more-developed countries in the region, there is poverty on a level that most Americans are not in tune to on a daily level. Yet this country is rich in history and breathtaking vistas, as well as friendly people who can make a stay there a highpoint of one’s lifetime. As with anywhere on earth not a modern sprawling metropolis it is prudent to receive a travel shot before your visit. Jungles, as inviting to the fun-seeking as can possibly be, harbor dangers unknown in areas as urban as NYC.

Nicaragua is not the place for a four-star clientele; it is a place for backpackers and adventurers. Some of the amazing places to visit are:

The smoking volcano of Conception at over 5,000 feet is one of the most awe-inspiring sites one can see anywhere in the world. Camping at the base of this monster, steam pluming behind you, as you partake in a scrumptious feast of fresh seafood is something you will never forget.

Lake Nicaragua, named the Sweet Sea by the locals, is the second largest lake in all of Latin America. In fact, it is so huge that while standing on one shore it is impossible to see the other. This natural wonder has everything from waves, to islands, and the only species of fresh water shark in the world!

Granada, founded in 1542 by Francisco Hernadez de Cordoba, is one of the first European cities in all of the Americas. It is Nicaragua’s fourth most populous city and enjoys a rich colonial heritage marked by its Moorish and Andalusian architecture and appearance. It is a picture-perfect city filled with romance and must-see sites.

As beautiful a place as Nicaragua is, it is recommended that travelers receive travel vaccination before they journey there. It is at a certified travel clinic that one can receive all the information that they need before leaving the stone & metal confines of NYC to expand their horizons. A typhoid vaccination recommended, as is a malaria vaccination if one plans to really delve into the local landscape and visit the jungles that abound with exotic wildlife.

For those individuals leaving from NYC there is an easily accessible certified Yellow fever vaccination clinic located on Madison Avenue just two blocks from Grand Central Station. Simply log onto Travel Clinic NYC or call 1-212-696-5900 for more information and a quick appointment. When planning your next trip overseas, think “adventure” as opposed to “convenience”. That’s where the fun is!

NYC to Africa. Travel Vaccination Protection

Looking for a unique travel idea? Here’s a trip that’s a long way from NYC and will fill you with excitement and wonder. Go get a new suitcase, a vaccination, a reliable camera and head off to Africa to visit the Masai peoples! The who?

The Masai.

This African tribe is famous for being noble and fearless warriors who once dominated the plains of East Africa. The Masai are known for their tall, muscular features and their distinctive dress. Seeing a male tribe member in the flesh is astonishing. Typically they hold fierce-looking spears and are adorned in blood-red shoulder cloaks. The women are beautiful and adorn themselves in intricate jewelry and bangles. Both sexes wear earrings and take pride in stretching long holes in their lobes. The men sometimes wear elaborate headdresses made from lions manes or ostrich feathers. Both men and women shave their heads.

Aside from the many countries that are suffering through political strife, Africa is a beautiful continent to visit. Visiting a Masai village affords you to the opportunity to absorb true-to-life African tribal culture and so much more. However, due to indigenous diseases present on the continent, a travel vaccination is definitely recommended. Especially if the traveler is from NYC and has only built up an immunity to eating dirty water hotdogs!

How do the Masai live?

The Masai are very family oriented and reside in huts that are encircled in enclosures made from sharpened sticks and prickly thorn bushes in order to protect their cattle herds from predators. This enclosure is called an Enkang. Each Enkang includes approximately 10 to 20 small huts made from branches pasted together with fresh cow-dung. (How’s that for an exciting travel experience?!)

The huts are typically small and have holes in the roofs. The holes serve two purposes. The first is to let a little light in, and the second is to allow smoke to escape from the smoldering cow-dung (!) fire kept ablaze for cooking and warmth. For your average resident of NYC a cow-dung fire may not seem like the best place to make smores, but the smoke drives away the insects and for that you will be thankful.

 

Before heading anywhere in Africa be sure to check the rules and regulations regarding whether a travel vaccination is necessary. For instance, in many countries in Africa proof of a yellow fever vaccination is necessary for entry. This routine travel vaccination can be acquired at any certified travel clinic. NYC has many highly regarded facilities of this type.

A travel clinic can help you prepare for a trip in so many ways. If you are planning an overseas journey, visiting one is a must. For those of us who live in NYC or its surrounding boroughs, think about visiting Travel Clinic New York. Easily accessible by mass transit, this clinic is certified to administer all travel vaccinations—and so much more. Just log onto TravelClinicNY.com or call 1-212-696-5900 to make an appointment. Stay safe and have fun.