Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Further preparation: the vaccines!!

I have previously started vaccination against hepatitis A and a booster for B. I have also recently updated my tetanus vaccine. Today I have secured further vaccination in the form of typhoid vaccine from the Public Health Unit (for information purposes, the oral vaccine apparently has a longer duration of action, up to 7 years of protection; indeed, I prefer this to an injection, one of my personal peeves. I have also been advised to bring along Cipro, start Malarone 1-2 days prior to departure, to bring along DEET 30%, to consider mosquito netting ( the latter two available at Army Surplus or Trailhead in downtown Kingston), and maybe water-purifying tablets. mention was made by an earlier counsellor to consider rabies vaccine. In view of my prior history of a tendency to traveller's diarrhea, I have decided I will take Duokoral as a preventive measure. Naturally, I suspect the PHU may naturally be over-inclusive with the advice provided. Reality is that the greatest danger to my health would likely be a road accident, for which it is difficult to prepare.

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