The number of people who travel has exploded in the past 5 years due to the rise of budget carriers. People who would never have been able to afford flying to far off destinations because of the high cost associated with full carrier airlines in the past are now able to fly cheaply. There is even an airline that was launched in Malaysia some years ago, Air Asia, that has it's tagline as, "Now Everyone Can Fly." The expansion of air travel has been more phenomenal in Asia than in Europe or the US in these past few years.
This increase in travelers brings with it, its own set of problems. People are traveling to countries with endemic diseases that the travelers have no natural immunity against. For example, malaria is not endemic in the US and Europe but is an everyday event in Africa and certain Asian countries. Therefore travelers from the US would not have any immunity from this disease if they are infected with the malaria agent.
Travelers are one of the biggest transmitters of infectious diseases. Transmission of such diseases is even more rampant and fast because of air travel. It's like air travel has unleashed the infectious agents onto the world. Recall the speed with which SARS spread from Hong Kong to Canada - within 5 days of its recognition.
In order to avoid personal infection and therefore avoid becoming a carrier of disease, it's only judicious that travelers avail themselves of the following information for personal protection.
Find out the diseases prevalent in the country traveling to at the time of visit
Check if they need to be vaccinated against the diseases endemic in this country because some diseases only affect those of a particular age range
Check if they have been vaccinated before for these diseases
Check if they need to revaccinate, if they have already received the vaccine before. Some vaccines need boosters or revaccination after some years and others don't.
Equip oneself with a medical travel kit that contains relevant medical accessories and medication.
If they ascertain that they need to be vaccinated, then ideally they should vaccinate 14 days before embarking on the preferred mode of travel. This is to ensure that the measure of antibodies achieve the optimum levels before travel. Some vaccines take only 7 days to achieve maximum levels and others up to 14 days. Oftentimes the rate of antibody production depends on the efficiency of each person's physiological makeup. So 14 days is a general rule of thumb. However, if the ideal cannot be adhered to, vaccination even on the day of travel is advisable - the philosophy being, better late than never! Vaccination is akin to an insurance policy.
Here are some vaccines that are considered travel vaccines. They may not be considered travel vaccines for denizens of the country where the disease is endemic.
i) Influenza - for those traveling from one hemisphere to the other during the winter of the destination country
ii) Travelers diarrhea
iii) Cholera
iv) Typhoid
v) Hepatitis A
vi) Hepatitis B
vii) Japanese encephalitis
viii) Meningococcal A,C,W,Y
ix) Polio
x) Rabies
xi) Tetanus
xii) Yellow Fever
xiii) Diphtheria
xiv) Pertussis
xv) Lyme disease
xvi) Tick-borne encephalitis
xvii) Measles-Mumps-Rubella
Generally anyone can receive these vaccines if it's appropriate for their age.
People who have an allergy to specific components of the vaccine should not receive the vaccine, so be sure to inform the healthcare professional of such allergy status.
Pregnant women are usually discouraged from vaccines unless there is a life threatening need.
Having fever rules out vaccination during the episode.
James T Pereira is the Founder of Breakthrough Health Solutions, LLC that reveals the breakthrough health tools that help people achieve supercharged health.
Vaccines are unnatural methods of safeguarding your health and they cause side-effects that can maim you. There are natural methods to shield yourself fro infections.
If you want to boost your health using natural, safe and low-cost techniques, sign up for the free "Your Daily Health Booster Tips at http://www.BreakthroughHealthSolutions.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_T_Pereira
0 comments:
Post a Comment