recommended immunizations for India?
 

We will spend 8 weeks in India in Feb., March and April. This includes a 2 week trip to Bhutan. In addition to immunization to prevent Hepatitis A, is immunization to prevent typhus also necessary? What do you think is the best antimalarial drug for India?
We will be in Rajasthan, Daramsala, Amritsar, Bodghaya and Aurangabad. I have checked the CDC site, but want to know what experienced travelers have done.

We are planning on doxycycline for anti-malaria purposes in February. (Our trip will only be 25 days, I envy your 2 months!) I had a terrible rash in reaction to malarone on our Africa trip in 2012, and don't want to repeat THAT. Normally I don't have drug reactions, but since we've started taking longer trips, maybe that played into it.

Experienced travelers have studied the cdc site carefully, then consulted with a travel medicine professional.

There is no vaccine for typhus - I assume you have confused it with typhoid. Typhoid is another food and water-borne illness like Hep A and it is wise to have the vaccine.

Make sure all of your routine vaccines are up to date - tetanus/diptheria/pertussis and vaccines for childhood diseases - measles/mumps/rubella.

In terms of anti-malarials, there are several that are effective in India malarone, doxycycline and larium (melfloquine) are all effective. Read about them and consult with a health care professional about what might be best for you. I like malarone as I have not had side effects from it and it is the one taken for the shortest amount of time (one day before entering the malarial risk area, one week after). Doxy is the cheapest, but you have to take it for a full month after leaving the malarial risk area. Larium has the most side effects, but if you have taken it before and can tolerate it, it has the advantage of once a week dosing.

I follow the CDC guidelines, although I also consult a travel clinic. I cannot take Lariam, and have no difficulty with Malarone.

I trust you also know about the precations to take WRT food and water?

You may also look for the oral vaccine for travellers diarrhea sold under the name Dukoral in Canada.I am not sure of the availability of this vaccine in other countries.My spouse and I have used this in addition to the other immunizations and medications mentioned and have had absolutely no issues with food or water borne illness over the past number of years of travel to many developing countries including India.We also of course follow the universally understood preventative hygiene measures when travelling to these countries.

Dukoral is not approved for sale in the US.

We didn't take anything for malaria on our 3 week trip but used deet spray when needed, only a few times actually.... but we did take probiotics as a preventatitive for gastric problems..We certainly had no stomach issues at all so would take them again. We started taking them 2 months before departure but I have heard that they will still help even if not taken in advance. Several friends who have used them have similar positive reports.

If the CDC says that an area is prone to malaria, I take Malarone, no question. It only takes one bite. (Of course, I hate bug spray.)

Thank you for your comments. I am wondering how many of you had the typhoid vaccine before going to India? I am only asking because we can get everything we need from our family doctor except the typhoid vaccine. That means that we will have to go to a Passport Travel clinic and it is time consuming and expensive.

Is your own doctor willing to write a prescription for the oral typhoid vaccine?

I consider the typhoid vaccine a must for anyone traveling to tropical or semi-tropical areas. It is a food and water-borne illness like Hep A. You have no control over who handles your food and how meticulous they are about hand-washing. It is even more important now that there are antibiotic-resistant strains.

I just checked my Immunizatuon Certificate. I've taken it twice, and it looks like I'm about due again.

We have an appointment this week for recommended vaccines and/or meds for India and have been told to be prepared to pay $485 pp for hep A & B, typhoid, malaria, yellow fever. In addition, they will provide the required certificate proving that we have been vaccinated for yellow fever.

Haven't gotten to the part about what meds to take with us , so I appreciate this forum.

Yellow Fever? Are you going to Africa or South America? if not, be aware that there is no yellow fever anywhere in Asia. If a travel clinic recommends the yellow fever vaccine for a trip to India (or anywhere in Asia) I'd walk out then and there.

Malaria - there is no vaccine for malaria. If you are going to a malarial risk area, then you need to take anti-malarials. And if you feel it important to take along an antibiotic, be aware that cipro is no longer effective in many countries. There are recommendations on the cdc website.

That seems rather expensive, what clinic is that? And have you read cdc.gov/travel for India? That would have told you what Kathie just did.

Just had my doctor appointment with my primary care doc at Duke Health -- Along with our travel itinerary, I brought my yellow card that showed when we last had Hep A (plus booster) and B vaccinations. As it will be 10 years in March (and we get home March 10) my doctor gave me a blood test to see if my Hep A coverage is still good, and the result came back that I am still fine. We had done those shots back in 2004 and used the Johns Hopkins Travel Clinic. As I recall along with a tetanus shot, the shots back then, along with antimalarial Rx cost nearly $300, so those costs don't sound too out of line if you need everything.

I was given an Rx for doxy (60 pills) which cost about $16, and a 4-pill oral vaccine against typhoid which ended up costing $43.