Inoculations for Vietnam & Camboda
 

What shots, if any, has anyone taken when visiting Vietnam & Cambodia. We will basically be visiting cities & on a Mekong River cruise.

Take a look at www.cdc.gov/travel and talk with a travel med professional. Read all of the info about the places you are going and read about malarial prevention. Read the section on food and water precautions carefully.

You should have the routine vaccines you need even if you are staying at home: DTP, MMR, Hep A, Flu vaccine. But you should also get the typhoid vaccine. Part of the area you will be visiting is considered high risk for malaria, and you should talk with your doctor about antimalarials.

Here is the malarial risk map for Cambodia: http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/desti...laria-map.aspx
and here is the map for VN:
http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/desti...laria-map.aspx

As you can see, the highest risk areas are on your cruise.

Take a good repellant and apply it regularly and carefully. You are protecting yourself from a number of mosquito-borne diseases, not just malaria. When I am going to malarial risk areas in SE Asia, I take Malarone, but do talk with your doctor about what is best for you. Note that tour companies are simply terrible about telling you of disease risks. Many/most will tell you you won't be in malarial risk areas, even when it is obvious that you will.

Lots of bug repellent- If you're in the US- REI sells a great one that's 99.1% deet (or something equally ridiculous).

I take Melfoquine, only 1x/week. My parents took Doxy (I'm allergic) on our Mekong river cruise, but both got sick from it and stopped. They were ok since I had my super-deet stuff, but a lot of people on our trip got bitten- want to be careful!

Good advice from Kathie but do see a travel doctor as things do change. Here is another link that provides reasonably current info and recs. This is the public version if the site that UK GPs use to advise patients.

Personally, as we travel for extended periods, I never bother with malaria prophylactics abut take a couple of treatment courses juts in case. As you are going for a short time, it is not an approach I would recommend. I contracted malaria in Vietnam many years ago and it was not an experience I would care to repeat.

Dengue fever is endemic in the region and there are no prophylactics so repellent,
day and night is essential. NB . We take the 100% npmentioned above but it MUST be diluted down to at least 50% before use on the skin. 100% is only for treating clothing, wristbands etc. Anyway, it is no more effective in concentrations above 50%.

Hand sanitizer and its regular use is another essential IMO.

I've never watered down my deet, not directions on my bottle to do so- comes in a small bottle, just put a dab behind my ears, inside of my wrists and around my ankles. Had the same bottle for 2 trips to Africa, 1 trip to Burma and 1 trip for 3 to VN&Cambodia- there's still about 1/2 left!

Take a look at the research on the use of repellants. crellston is right 100% deet is not meant for use on the skin. The usual recommendation is for something like a 30% concentration. And the research shows that putting a dab here and there doesn't keep mosquitos off - the skin must have the repellant on it to be effective. I'm glad you have had good luck with your approach, but it is not recommended.

Note that Picardin is as effective as deep-containing repellants and doesn't have some of the undesirable effects. We bought picardin-based repellants for our last couple of trips.

50% is the absolute maximum I'd go for, and we also use Avon so-soft which forms a barrier.

This is worth a read...

http://www.deet.com/faqs.html

...and there's plenty more expert advice online.

We went to a travel medicine specialist who was affiliated with a large local hospital. She was very informative, answered our questions and administered our injections. She was also available for follow-up. It cost a little more than our regular physician, but she had access to information and meds that many docs wouldn't stock. Malarone is expensive in the U.S., on the travel med specialist's advice, we shopped around for the best price. I was shocked how many people we saw very bitten up by bugs on the island portion of our Thailand vacation. Our family was very careful about applying repellent during the day and evening and then washing it off before bed. Enjoy your travels!

Malarone is available in generic so the price is much better.
http://www.drugs.com/availability/generic-malarone.html

Do not under-rate the dangers of malaria, and take your advice from qualified experts such as the Centers for Disease Control, not from anecdotes on the Internet. In case you don't already know, most malarial protection depends on a series of pills taken at regular intervals and starting before your travel begins. Like, yes, birth control. The fight against malaria, led by the Gates Foundation among others, is constantly evolving and my knowledge may be out-of-date but that's why it is essential to consult real science.