OK, now for shots. I’m pretty good friends with my doctor, and he trusts me, and that’s both good and bad. After all, HE’s the doctor and I’m the engineer. Before we want to Peru I did the research, went in with some internet printouts, and walked out with prescriptions for diamox (Rachel) and dex (me-allergic to sulfa) as well as plans for a course of shots. We didn’t use any of the altitude medicine. He threw in a prescription for cipro as his contribution to our well-being and that worked out well. We’ll do that again.
This time, like usual, there’s conflicting information. The books say to get yellow fever and have an international health certificate in addition to hep A&B. The Tanzania visa application says yellow fever isn’t required but they recommend cholera. CDC says to get yellow fever and typhoid vaccines and A&B. mdtravelhealth.com agrees with CDC. Everybody says to take anti-malaria pills. I’m going with Malarone. I think I’m going with the CDC too.
I’m taking diamox this time, having taken progressively larger doses of the leftover pills since coming back from Peru to convince myself I’m not allergic to them.
Anybody have any other thoughts?
Everything I’ve read about the cholera vaccine indicates that it doesn’t work very well.
I’ve taken Diamox in Nepal and Peru. It seemed to help in Peru, but not Nepal. Go figure. My own experience with Cipro is very positive.
Does Malarone avoid the risk of psychotic episodes posed by Larium? — Rick
Malarone seems to avoid the psychotic effects. None of the malaria drugs seems completely pleasant, but Malarone seemed the best to me. I’ve talked to one person who took at and he didn’t have problems with it. Not a very good sample size, though. Here’s a CDC link:
http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/contentMalariaDrugsPublic.aspx