Planning overseas travel? Here's what you need to know

If you are planning to travel overseas, don’t let illness spoil your trip. One of the things that people often forget to do until the last minute, is making sure they are up-to-date on all recommended vaccines. Plan to see a doctor to evaluate what additional vaccines you may need four to six weeks ahead of time. Not only do you need to allow time to schedule an appointment with your doctor, but some vaccines need to be ordered, and once you get your vaccines, some may take a week or two to become effective.

Nebraska Medicine has a travel clinic on the Nebraska Medical Center campus that will make sure you and your family are up-to-date on routine vaccinations to protect you from diseases that may be rare in the U.S. but are still common in many other parts of the world. This includes a second MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) and the Tdap vaccine – a booster for adults that includes protection for tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis.

Most travelers to foreign lands should also receive the hepatitis A vaccine, which protects against an orally transmitted cause of jaundice (one shot is 85% effective; two shots given six months apart are 99% effective); and the typhoid vaccine to protect against exposure to contaminated drinking water or food.

Other common vaccines that are recommended depending on what part of the world you are traveling include hepatitis B, for exposure to blood or body fluids; meningococcal vaccine to protect against the meningococcal infection – a  major cause of bacterial meningitis; and yellow fever, a viral infection that is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected mosquitoes.

Taking the proper precautions before you travel is a very real concern. For example, malaria is spread through mosquito bites and can result in severe illness and even death if not treated properly. Every year, approximately 1,700 people return to the U.S. with malaria and five of these people end up dying. Malaria occurs in Africa, Central and South America, parts of the Caribbean, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the South Pacific. We can prescribe an antibiotic that you can take while you are abroad and afterward to prevent malaria.

The yellow fever vaccine is specifically recommended if you are traveling to a certain part of Africa or South America. There is currently a shortage for this vaccine so if you are not able to get it, I recommend that you not travel to these parts of the world. Brazil, in particular, is currently in the midst of a large yellow fever outbreak.   

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) currently recommends avoiding travel to Venezuela because of outbreaks of infectious diseases as well as Indonesia due to a recent earthquake, and parts of Africa, such as Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe, where there are serious health and safety risks due to a recent tropical cyclone.

Other outbreaks to be aware of include a rubella outbreak in Japan and an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It's important to remember that outbreaks are fluid so you should check the CDC website for the most recent updates before you begin your travel.

To help prevent mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, Zika and dengue viruses, wear DEET on your skin when going out and treat your clothes with permethrin ahead of time. Most adults who get Zika, do not get sick so they are not even aware that they’ve been infected. As a result, the CDC recommends that if you are a female of child-bearing age, you should not get pregnant for eight weeks after traveling to areas where the Zika virus is a concern. If you are a male, you should wait three months before fathering a child. Areas with reported Zika cases include, but are not limited to countries in South America, Central America and many islands in the Caribbean, such as the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands.

Other vaccines you may need depending on your areas of travel include a shot for Japanese encephalitis and the rabies shot. Both require several shots over a month to be effective.

Remember to use common sense protective measures such as using mosquito repellants; drinking only purified, boiled or bottled water; avoid eating raw fruits and vegetables unless you have peeled them yourself; and not drinking and driving.  Be aware that many foreign countries do not have an effective ambulance system as we do so health care is not as accessible. The number one and two causes of death overseas is cardiovascular disease and motor vehicle accidents. You should also pack over-the-counter anti-diarrhea medications to help you get through a bout of traveler’s diarrhea and antibiotics for severe bouts.

To prepare you and your family for overseas travel, please make an appointment at one of our Travel Clinics at the Durham Outpatient Center by calling 800.922.0000.