Costa Rica Vaccines?
 

I don't remember getting vaccines last time I went to Costa Rica. Three doctors three different opinions. My kids pediatrician gave them Typhoid, Hepatitis A and a tetanus update. My doctor wants me to have Hep A and Tetanus booster. My husband's doctor wants to charge him $500 to get a Typhoid and Tetanus shot (insurance won't cover that). Arrghh. Just curious what most people get before going to Costa Rica

I only got hep A before going; that's the only thing my MD recommended.

I haven't got any personally in 10 years of traveling there, but I did not ask my Dr either. Wow, $500 for a shot!!

Just a Tetanus booster & only because I was there on a mission trip working.

Go to any farmacia HERE.
Your husbands doctor and you pharmas are thieves.
Fly in. Grab a taxi and head to the closest farmacia, which will be staffed with a GP.
My pneumonia vaccine cost me $16.INSTALLED !

mdtravelhealth.com CR for correct CDC info

your MDs are "churning" you to death

and ODing you and your kids with vaccination overload

Hep A is all you need other

than usual childhood immunizations.

Use intelligent food and water precautions

odds are overwhelming you will be fine no worries.

Here's the link to the CDC recommendations.

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinat...osta-rica.aspx

There is an oral form of the typhoid vaccine (for those old enough to be able to swallow large tablets). It's effective for five years, as opposed to two years for the injectable.

People any where in the world should be up to date on their tetanus vaccine. In the last few years, there is a new formulation which also includes vaccine against pertussis (whooping cough). Before this came on the market the last dose of whooping cough vaccine was given to kids before they entered kindergarten. Hence, large outbreaks off whooping cough in the preteen age group a couple of years ago.

Healthy older kids and adults survive whooping cough with few problems, just like a cold with a nasty cough. The danger is for young infants. Those who are too young to have been vaccinated. They sometimes die from the disease. Huge push to have both parents vaccinated before newborn infants are sent home from the hospital.

As for Hepatitis A, it's endemic in Mexico and Central America. That means it's always around. Easily transmitted. No matter how meticulous your personal hygiene may be, you are only as safe the person preparing and serving your food.

Off my soapbox now......

I have lived and traveled in Costa Rica for many years. I have never gotten any kind of hepatitis vaccine or anything else other than a tetanus booster - I owned a farm for years.

What you get and where you get it is up to you. No one can tell you what to do with this. As you can see from this forum, there are lots of opinions and they are just that.

My opinion is that you don't need anything and I would imagine most of the 2 million tourists a year who come here don't get vaccinations.

But -- only you can decide what is best for you and your family.

PS There is no typhoid in Costa Rica.

Thanks everyone. I know we did not get vaccines last time but my neighbor just left for two weeks with all sorts of vaccines and even malaria pills. I was kind of stunned. And then our pediatrician insisted on vaccines for the kids and so i did end up getting a tetanus booster and a Hep A vaccine today. My neighbor had Hep A and she is always tired....that would kind of suck so I figured while I got the tetanus booster, why not just get the other shot at the same time. Probably overkill, but I live in NYC, the land of neurotics.
Good to know about typhoid.

Although it's been a few years since I was last in Costa Rica, there was an outbreak of malaria around Jaco while we were in the country.

Mostly young kids sleeping on the beach.

Travel or not, if it's been 10 years since your last tetanus shot, you should get one. Everybody should.

There were no cases of malaria in Costa Rica in 2010.

Do you have any links to support no cases in 2010? I couldn't find any data that was that recent. Other years there were several hundred to several thousand cases. No deaths though.

If you can be sure of good water and hygiene where you eat, you probably don't need typhoid or HepA.

Dengue is a bigger risk than malaria. Use insect repellent during the day.

There is a moderate malaria risk in some rural areas of Limon Province.
http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/...laria-map.aspx

Details from the UK travel advice website, which also has good advice on crime avoidance:
http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-...ta-rica#health

It does depend on what part of Costa Rica you'll be visiting.

Our pediatrician goes by the CDC information. We did not need any vaccines for Costa Rica two years ago, but things do change, so check the CDC for the most updated info.

For Panama however, we went to Bocas Del Toro. The CDC recommended malaria meds and we all took them.

Does CR require any documentation of vaccines to enter the country? I have not read anything that states they do, but, now I am anxious about that.

Thanks

The only documentation you would need to enter Costa Rica would be for yellow fever vaccine. That would only apply if you were traveling from a country where yellow fever is known to be present, and, I think, had traveled to that country within ten days.

For example, if you were coming from Colombia, you may be asked for proof of vaccine.

murphy - no. (At least on entry from the US.)

JeanH - if you will go to the Ministry of Health website in Costa Rica, you will see that there were no cases of malaria reported in Costa Rica in 2010.

For previous years, I don't know where you get "thousands." The past two years, there was one area, deep in Limon Province (think jungle) where tourists don't go. You would only be in danger if you were a researcher or biologist traveling to that area.

No vaccines necessary if arriving from the US or Canada. As jeanh said - if you arrive from certain countries in South America, you would need to have the yellow fever vaccine. And you would need to have the vaccine more than ten days from your arrival. The locations of yellow fever change so early last year, if you were at a couple of locations in Argentina, you would need it but not the rest of the country.

So... as far as vaccines for Costa Rica go -- you can believe the CDC or the Costa Rican Ministry of Health. And I would think not twice, but THREE times before giving anyone malaria meds as a preventive. The side effects can be pretty bad.

As I have said before -- everyone will need to make their own decision about this because everyone is different and their situations are different. Of the two million tourists who visit Costa Rica each year, I would guess that very few of them get any kind of vaccine.

We haven't gotten any vaccines or taken meds, but we are careful to use mosquito repellent.

I checked the monthly bulletins from the Ministry of Health website and there were cases reported in 2010.

You can review the 2010 cases reported to date on page 5 of this report. The Caribbeam coast is the area with most cases, corresponding to the map I posted a link to above.

Dengue was a far bigger risk in 2010 and there is no vaccine.

http://www.ministeriodesalud.go.cr/i...36_%202010.pdf

Here's one of the sites I read that reported malaria in Costa Rica in the past several years. It appears to use data from the Ministry of Health.

http://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/travel/wr...36659&wrtype=6

mlgb: I stand corrected! I was going by a newspaper report which said -- according to the ministry of health, there were no cases of malaria in 2010. I guess that's what happens when you believe what is in the newspaper!

I repeat - people will need to weigh the actual threat of getting malaria against the side effects of taking the medication. Statistically, it's about the same risk as flying.

In addition, you should understand that using insect repellent is not the usual thing for Costa Ricans but if, as a tourist, you use repellent faithfully, you won't have a problem with either dengue or malaria.

Also - keep in mind that the cases of both are in the lower lying areas so really no danger in higher elevations such as Arenal or Monteverde or the Tenorio area.

I am at the point with this where I am trying hard to be rational but the evil twin in me keeps saying - do what you want to do, I don't care anymore.

If I seem a little testy, it's because people keep asking questions about Costa Rica like it is some backwards, poverty-stricken place full of disease. People ask about malaria, hepatitis, typhoid, dengue, cholera, is there whole milk available, do they sell diapers in Costa Rica etc etc so at some point, I tend to get a little prickly. This is my adopted home and I have lived here for many years.

I like to remind people that there have been no recalls of a billion eggs or beef or sprouts or anything else in Costa Rica. That more than 90% of the country's electric is generated NOT using fossil fuels (or nuclear), that there is a 95% literacy rate and a larger percentage of families in Costa Rica have internet access than in the US. Costa Rica also has inexpensive health care for everyone with no "insurance" involved.

Putting away my soapbox now.....

So my husband's doctor has him doing typhoid pills and after talkign to my doctor and reading, I really think that is WAY overkill. My kids were due for hepatitis A vaccines anyway (that is part of the routine vaccinations now in NY). I just don't remember all this vaccination worry when I went ten years ago....but I also didn't have kids so I am definitely more neurotic than I used to be! I guess people need to do what they are comfortable with but I just don't remember any issues at all (and we even hiked on a trail that had cholera warning...go figure)

Last year there was a dengue fever outbreak in the early part of the year in Costa Rica and other parts of Central & South America. Key West even had a few dozen cases.

Dengue mossies are active during the day and live around houses, breeding in puddles and water storage pools. They are not just restricted to low lying swampy areas. Guanacaste had a lot of the cases in the most recent outbreak. There were even several thousand cases in the Central Valley.

Perhaps the Costa Rica news media & government prefer not to report on this issue, in a country where tourism is so important to the economy? Other countries have fumigation and education campaigns underway.

hsmithcr, I know where you're coming from since I leave in Belize part of the year. You're right, people think countries in Central America are at the end of the earth.

I just don't like it when people say 'no cases' of any tropical illness, when it is the tropics. I used to do travel medicine as part of my job.....

mlgb - perhaps it is because you don't KNOW what the Costa Rican government is doing as far as spraying or education - both of which they are doing.

Perhaps you don't know about the gentleman from the municipality where I live who comes around to inspect to see if I have anything that is likely to be a haven for mosquitoes - mostly things with water or things that could hold water. He even asked me how often I changed my dog's water.

You didn't even know that there were malaria cases and are pooh-poohing using insect repellent. I did see mossies from time to time.

Costa Rica has an excellent public health system and I am sure they are doing their best, but I don't see any announcements that the risk of dengue is over.

BTW did they ever make any arrests in the case of the Marin County man who was murdered in Puerto Viejo while relaxing on the beach with his guitar?

I did not see where hsmith pooh-poohed using insect repellent. I believe her post said "In addition, you should understand that using insect repellent is not the usual thing for Costa Ricans but if, as a tourist, you use repellent faithfully, you won't have a problem with either dengue or malaria."

There is a big difference between mosquitoes being around (yes, sometimes they are) and mosquitoes who carry dengue or malaria. If people want to take the malaria meds and go thru the side-effects (even if that area has no reported cases of it), fine more power to them I guess.

Just me, but typhoid? Really? Hmmmm... I have to do some homework on that.

By the way - There are mosquitos in Arenal and Monteverde, so while there may not be as high a risk of Malaria, use good judgment. Use mosquito repellant. Also - if you or the kids do get bites, use a little Neosporin with pain relief to control the itching. My DS' bites seemed to bother him more in CR and Panama than they do here. His scratching caused the bites to get more inflamed than at home also.

Take a bite stick with you too. It's practically straight benzadine or straight ammonia, depending on which kind you buy. We bought/took both.

Good luck and have fun.