I heard that is recommended to get a few vaccines before visiting India. If you are coming from the US the CDC recommend it. Do you know which one are the ones needed for sure?

Thanks,

Juan

The best thing to do is to contact a travel clinic or an MD in your area who specializes in infectious diseases. They should be able to get a hook up to the CDC for the latest recommendations. As one who became ill with typhoid fever once while in India I can assure you you are taking wise precautions by following these guidelines. Other measures such as drinking bottled H2O only, resisting the aroma of street food (eat only at the better restaurants), and eating fruit that has been peeled are common sense ideas you should follow. Have a good trip. Take the CDC recommendations and use common sense when there and you should be allright though a bit of travelers stomach is nearly unavoidable.

I am not a docotr, but have been traveling to INDIA long enough. What is genreally reccomended is Tetanus, polio booster, typhoid, and HEP A. These are general reccomendations, and not include specific regional outbreaks, such as menengitis, etc...Also, the decsion to take or not to take malaria pills, in the end, a personal choice...all this can be discussed with a infectious disease Doctor, and u should see one before your trip..HOWEVER, be noted, they often reccomend a few more vaccinations, definately on the side o fcaution..by th by, vaccinations are very costly..

Bonita, why Hep A? This is new to me. I know you are not a doctor but what's your rationale?

Craig, even if you are staying home you should get Hep A. Hep A is a food and water borne illness caused by poor sanitation. Even in the US and Western Europe there are periodic outbreaks due to contamination by a food handler.

Bonita lists the basic traveler's vaccines. Depending on when you were born, you may also need the MMR booster (measles, mumps, rubella).

Read the cdc website thoroughly. Note that India has the highest rates of human rabies in the world. Depending and where you are going in India, you may want to consider that as well. (Note that having the pre-exposure vaccine still means that you will need to be treated if bitten, but you will not the hard to find immune globulin, and you will have longer to get to treatment. Once symptoms of rabies appear, it is 100% fatal)

I'm sorry, I got confused between Hep A and B (bad hair day I guess) - I have had the Hep A vaccine in the past - I have heard some people recommend Hep B but not sure why. I can see that Hep B is not what is being recommended here.