Do I Really Need Vaccinations for Roatan?

[Dave Zimmerly]

Last year girlfriend and I went to Roatan for a week of diving at FIBR. Had a great time. We will be going again in 31 days.

She, being a Nurse Practioner, did some checking, called me and said that we needed to get some vaccines (Hep A, B, malaria and something else). She already got hers this afternoon and expects me to get mine this Wednesday.

Other than the tetanus shot, we didn't take them last year, but she has it in her mind that we have to have them for this trip.

Anyone with some insight, please advise. I don't like needles.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[hopefulist]

In my opinion everyone should keep their tetanus shots up to date and have the Hep A series whether they travel or not. For trips to CA it's the cheapest insurance around. Hep B is a matter of opinion; everyone in my family has had the series because of jobs (the parents) and because they're required for school kids now. We take malaria pills (chloroquine - not a shot) because malaria can be a life-long plague and has been reported recently on Roatan and in other parts of Honduras.

 

[Dave Zimmerly]

Looks like I'll be rolling up my sleeve. Thanks.

Dave (aka "Squirt")

 

[ScubaMarc]

My 4 buddies and I went to roatan for 10 days, We did not take any malaria meds and all is fine. We did all use 30% deet and only had a very few bites. And ran the A/C while sleeping.

BTW, deet 30% is supposed to be safe for the short term use.

 

[H2Andy]

neither my wife nor i took any shots before heading for Roatan

but i guess they can't hurt

 

[fda483]

Dave

I think most of the travel recommendations for vaccinations and preventive drugs are based on longer exposure in the areas of the countries that typically not visited during a vacation.

But why take the chance, I travel a lot to India (in fact that’s where I am now) and while we are staying at 5 Star Hotels I still get the full list of recommended medications. To me it is easier to take them than deal with getting the rare case.

A good reference web site for travel medicine is below, see you next month.

Joe

http://www.mdtravelhealth.com/

 

[Bratface]

Protect your liver, get the Hep A and Hep B.

 

[DandyDon]

I think most of the travel recommendations for vaccinations and preventive drugs are based on longer exposure in the areas of the countries that typically not visited during a vacation.

I wonder how many mosquito bites it takes to transfer malaria? It's not common on Roatan, but happens - and the prophylactic for Central America is not nearly as bad as the one for the other side of the world.

In my opinion everyone should keep their tetanus shots up to date and have the Hep A series whether they travel or not. For trips to CA it's the cheapest insurance around. Hep B is a matter of opinion...

Yep! I don't know that you'd have time to complete the Hep B series, anyway, but the Hep A is a very good idea.

 

[hopefulist]

One mosquito bite from the wrong one is all it takes.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Dave,

Each person has their own health issues and their own degree of risk tolerance, so this is always an individual decision. This is simply what we do, not any sort of endorsement for anyone else to do.

We stay with the CDC recommendations. When we went to Roatan, the same recommendations were on the CDC site from when we went to Belize less than two years earlier. Hepatitis A&B, Typhoid, and Tetanus immunizations.

We were overdue for Typhoid boosters when Hurricane Katrina hit this area - and we got those up-to-date as soon as we could afterward, as there was a very high demand for this stuff for the emergency relief workers for the first several months afterward. Keeping this stuff up-to-date isn't a bad idea even if you're not traveling outside the USA. The Chi Chi's restaraunt chain went bankrupt over hepatitis cases in Pennsylvania that resulted in several fatalities among those stricken a few years ago.

For both of these trips the anti-malarials prescribed by our travel physician was Chloroquine - generic version - tablets. Directions were to take 1 tablet 1 / week starting 2 weeks before the trip, every week during the trip, then an additional 2 weeks after returning from the trip. So 6 tablets total for each of us. With our health insurance prescription plan, this cost < $5 per person, so we considered this pretty inexpensive preventive medicine.

Our travel doc also gives us a scrip for Levaquin 'just in case' for such trips as well.

Have a great trip!