Vacination Advice

[mike]

Hi everybody,
I am going to Cebu in November, do I need to have some vacinations before I go?

Thanks

[walesrob]

Hi everybody,
I am going to Cebu in November, do I need to have some vacinations before I go?

Thanks

Cebu is fine, you've nothing to worry about. Just don't eat anything wild and uncooked, or looks dodgy and keep away from the jungles. Joking aside, I've been to Philippines 4 times in 2 years, I didn't bother with vaccinations and never had a problem, even when I stayed at Elsa's parents place in the wilds of Tacloban.

If you wanna be really safe, you are advised to take Typhoid, Hep A and Diptheria injections, but like I said, play safe and you'll be ok.

[mike]

thanks wells,
so i do not really have to take any vacines if i so choose? I am going to Cebu to marry my fiancee, i am really happy

[walesrob]

thanks wells,
so i do not really have to take any vacines if i so choose? I am going to Cebu to marry my fiancee, i am really happy

Mike you don't have to, these are just recommendations, have fun in sunny Cebu, let us know how it goes, and if you need any advice on immigration matters, you know where we are!

[mike]

Thanksssssssss for your help, love this site

[Eljohno]

Robs probably right but if you want to be sure go to your local travel clinic and ask their advice as i am pretty sure there are some vacines they suggest.

Because i have been to Africa in the last few years i was already covered..

[mike]

Cool thanks Eljohno

[A_flyer]

I prefer to be be up to date with the vaccines. The only ones I don't have if yellow fever (so I can't go to Africa) and Hepatitis C.

Anyway as I'm travelling often for my work, my work medical centre is taking care of this and maintain them up to date (I had a shot last week).

Even if I agree that Cebu is safe... we have only one life. So I prefer to be prudent.

[mike]

Thanks flyer

[KeithD]

If you see a chicken sneeze.....run.....

[mike]

Never seen a chicken sneeze before nor one that flu

[ginapeterb]

Hi Mike,

I've been out to Phils 8 times in last 2 years, I was going 4 times a year at one stage, then I decided to get married, now guess what, is it my imagination, or didnt I used to go out to Philippines, now the wife goes...strange..I dont go !, there must be something in that ? hmmmmmm I have never had any vaccinations, however be careful of what you eat, you will probably get the proverbial Gloria's revenge after a day or so, this normally involves you on the bog...just about every hour, you can't really stop it, not sure how others found it, but I was hit pretty hard with it, on visit no 1, I was in Manila at the time, and I couldn't get off the throne, dietary and water changes along with the heat, don't help, suggest you might want to pack some immodium just in case, I would also suggest you keep a pack of toilet paper in around your person, when out and about, Cebu is no different to the rest of the malls, the WC's are generally filthy, and "No tissue paper zones" the problem is, the locals will nick it and take it home, hence no tissue paper, also no cleaning fluid in the public toilets in the malls, suggest you do a quick visit to Boots, before you go, get a couple of those small bottles of cuticura anti-bacterial wash, its in small bottles, they are yellow, if you see them, I know no one else has mentioned it here, but they are a life saver, when youre out and about, sometimes they do sell tissue paper in the Toilets, but its 4 pesos, for a couple of sheets, and who carries 4 pesos around ?

yves is right about vaccinations, we should all have them really, I can think of :

Black water disease,
Dengie fever,
Chaga's Disease,
Malaria

My Filipino neice poor little girl, just had dengie fever, so don't think it can't happen, although I don't bother having them, its not a bad idea, and as John says, if youre covered, then you don't have to worry, my advice is always simple,

"Anything you put in your mouth has to be clean"

on my 4th trip back home, I was violently ill when I got back to UK, I had the s... for 3 weeks, and had to see a Doctor, I was diagnosed with an extremely painful case of food poisoning, it was traced to a Calzone from Bobs cafe !, I was on the bog every hour, for at least a week, into the illness, and it interfered with my work, and general well being for 3 weeks, the discomfort was the worst I had ever suffered, it passes in time, but I can remember it like it was yesterday, unfortunately, there is no way of protecting against this, only eat at reputable restaraunts, and just make sure you have some basic medicines with you, especially immodium.

Hope that helps

[KeithD]

"Anything you put in your mouth has to be clean"

I have a comment in mind, but I'll keep quiet on that

I never had any problems when I was there, but then the missus boiled all the water, and we cooked everything ourselves, the only place we ate out was KFC.

When you first arrive, it is not always due to what you eat, in most cases you will actually find it is the jetlag that causes it, as your body adjusts to the new time, pressurised cabin, sleep & eating patterns. It is usually this if you get the craps within 48hrs of leaving the UK.....after that it is something you ate

http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/safet...avel_tips.html

[fred]

Hi Mike,

I've been out to Phils 8 times in last 2 years, I was going 4 times a year at one stage, then I decided to get married, now guess what, is it my imagination, or didnt I used to go out to Philippines, now the wife goes...strange..I dont go !, there must be something in that ? hmmmmmm I have never had any vaccinations, however be careful of what you eat, you will probably get the proverbial Gloria's revenge after a day or so, this normally involves you on the bog...just about every hour, you can't really stop it, not sure how others found it, but I was hit pretty hard with it, on visit no 1, I was in Manila at the time, and I couldn't get off the throne, dietary and water changes along with the heat, don't help, suggest you might want to pack some immodium just in case, I would also suggest you keep a pack of toilet paper in around your person, when out and about, Cebu is no different to the rest of the malls, the WC's are generally filthy, and "No tissue paper zones" the problem is, the locals will nick it and take it home, hence no tissue paper, also no cleaning fluid in the public toilets in the malls, suggest you do a quick visit to Boots, before you go, get a couple of those small bottles of cuticura anti-bacterial wash, its in small bottles, they are yellow, if you see them, I know no one else has mentioned it here, but they are a life saver, when youre out and about, sometimes they do sell tissue paper in the Toilets, but its 4 pesos, for a couple of sheets, and who carries 4 pesos around ?

yves is right about vaccinations, we should all have them really, I can think of :

Black water disease,
Dengie fever,
Chaga's Disease,
Malaria

My Filipino neice poor little girl, just had dengie fever, so don't think it can't happen, although I don't bother having them, its not a bad idea, and as John says, if youre covered, then you don't have to worry, my advice is always simple,

"Anything you put in your mouth has to be clean"

on my 4th trip back home, I was violently ill when I got back to UK, I had the s... for 3 weeks, and had to see a Doctor, I was diagnosed with an extremely painful case of food poisoning, it was traced to a Calzone from Bobs cafe !, I was on the bog every hour, for at least a week, into the illness, and it interfered with my work, and general well being for 3 weeks, the discomfort was the worst I had ever suffered, it passes in time, but I can remember it like it was yesterday, unfortunately, there is no way of protecting against this, only eat at reputable restaraunts, and just make sure you have some basic medicines with you, especially immodium.

Hope that helps

Pete.

There is no vaccine available for dengue fever..If there were,I would be the first in line.
I did hear about the thai`s working furiously to develop one though..
It seems that phase 1 trials were a success for all variants and has progressed the vaccine into Phase 2 clinical trials.

Fred.

[KeithD]

No dengue vaccine is available. Recently, however, attenuated candidate vaccine viruses have been developed. Efficacy trials in human volunteers have yet to be initiated. Research is also being conducted to develop second-generation recombinant vaccine viruses. Therefore, an effective dengue vaccine for public use will not be available for 5 to 10 years.

[fred]

http://www.acambis.com/default.asp?id=937

Acambis is the only company successfully to construct chimeric vaccines against all four dengue virus serotypes and to demonstrate in advanced pre-clinical trials that these four vaccines, administered together as a tetravalent vaccine, induce high levels of protective antibodies against all four serotypes.
Our initial step in undertaking clinical trials was to test one of the four chimeric vaccines that we developed, and results from this Phase I trial were reported in November 2002. The 56-subject trials tested the safety and immunogenicity of the ChimeriVax-DEN2 component in healthy adult volunteers. Preliminary findings from the trial showed 100% of subjects developed neutralising antibodies to the homologous dengue 2 virus serotype within one month of vaccination and 96% developed neutralising antibodies to a wild-type dengue 2 virus. There were no serious adverse events.
Following completion of the Phase 1 trial of a tetravalent formulation of our ChimeriVax-Dengue in the first quarter of 2005, the lead responsibility for further clinical testing and development passed during 2005 to sanofi pasteur (SP), to whom we have licensed worldwide rights. Results from the trial showed seroconversion to all four dengue virus serotypes. SP has progressed the vaccine into Phase 2 clinical trials.
The project is funded by sanofi pasteur and through a grant contribution from the US National Institutes of Health.

[KeithD]

Fred, that's from a manufactures site, they tend to exaggerate the science in order to get investors.

If you look on non-bias sites such as New Scientist, Scientific America, etc, they are only just going into official human trials.

At the latest WHO meeting, it was put forward as 7 years before full vaccine is available to the public. The fact Bill Gates is paying for the research has brought it down from 10, and with further scientific breakthroughs this should come down to 5.

[fred]

Thanks..
5 years at least says there is light at the end of the tunnel.

[aromulus]

For work purposes, ie, re-joining the cruise ships after vacations, I had to tavel long haul more times than I want to remember, and came to realize that if I plan to arrive on location in the morning, the discomfort of jet lag will not last long as my body clock would re-adjust itself by going to sleep at local night time, and wake up in the morning as fresh as a rose... well ... close...
My two trips to Phil (this year) were planned along those lines. And never suffered any jet lag.
Unfortunately on my first trip, I did get to sit on the throne with the squits, but i took 2 imodium tablets after the first sitting, and everything kinda of stopped dead on its tracks....
Boots is a great source of various and wonderful little pills... I also stocked up on stuff to leave behind, just in case the family need a few tablets (even Calpol for kids) for something or the other. Its not much, but shows that you care, besides, a couple of quid spent here, might save you a hell of a lot of peso later on...
about dengue vaccine I found this.

Wednesday, August 13, 2003
Dengue vaccine: Now in the offing?
By Henrylito D. Tacio

RESEARCHERS from Thailand, using sophisticated techniques once the exclusive domain of Western scientists, have developed a vaccine against dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that infects more than 100 million people a year.

The vaccine, developed at Mahidol University with grant support from the World Health Organization (WHO), has just finished its so-called "Phase 2" clinical trial in the said country.

"Now, we are waiting for Phase 3 trial where the vaccine will be tested against a large number of subjects may be as many as 20,000 children and to see that it could protect the disease by comparing with placebo group," said Dr. Natth Bhamarapravati, a pathology professor of the university and head of the on-going study.

A placebo is an inactive substance given as if it were a real dose of a needed drug.

Placebos are used in drug studies to compare the effects of the inactive substance with those of an experimental drug.

"The two groups will have to be blinded to determine the effect of the dengue vaccine," Dr. Bhamarapravati said.

The dengue vaccine, initial findings of the trials showed, appears to be the best bet to tackle a disease that has spread alarmingly over the past three decades.

About 2.5 billion people are believed to be at risk of the viral infection.

By 1975, dengue had become a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children in many countries, especially in Southeast Asia.

"Dengue is now one of the leading causes of death among children in such countries as Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam," says Dr. Allan Schapira, an epidemiologist who used to work with the WHO regional office in Manila.

"The problem is increasing" and "the epidemics are dramatic."

That is how Dr. Schapira, who is now with the WHO headquarters in Geneva, describes the dengue crisis in the region.

In Asia, the number of recorded cases per year is about 200,000 to 400,000. "But this figure is just the tip of the iceberg," the WHO officer warns, adding that "the real number of infections is probably about 10 times as high."

The increase in dengue cases is the result of the expanding geographical distribution of the mosquitoes that carry the virus, especially the "Aedes aegypti" species, which is mainly found in urban areas.

At the same time, the rapid rise in urban populations has increased the number of people exposed to the virus.

Dengue is characterized by an abrupt onset of high fever lasting from three to five days, severe headache, pain behind the eyes, muscle and joint pains, nausea and vomiting, and a measles-like rash on the chest and upper limbs.

These characteristics vary according to the age and general health of the patient.

This is why the Department of Health (DOH) is advising people to immediately see a doctor if they suspect they have dengue.

It is up to the doctor to determine whether the patient should be hospitalized or could be treated at home.

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is the fatal stage. It is characterized by high continuous fever lasting two to seven days that may be accompanied by loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and subsequent evidence of bleeding like persistent red spots on the skin, nose or gum bleeding, coffee-ground vomit, and dark stools.

The patient can go into shock. "After a dengue patient has gone into shock, it's usually a matter of time before multi-organ failure occurs and death becomes inevitable," says Dr. Lulu C. Bravo, chief of pediatric infectious disease section at the Philippine General Hospital.

Some five percent of DHF cases are fatal; without proper treatment, the rate rises to 15 per cent.

Dengue is caused by one of four dengue viruses. Recovery from infections ensures lifelong immunity against the particular virus involved, but not against the other three. Even worse, if subsequent infection with a different serotype or variant occurs, it is believed to increase susceptibility to DHF.

"This is what is called antibody enhancement phenomenon," explains Dr. Malik Peiris, an American microbiologist.

It's why a vaccine has so far eluded scientists. "The worry is that if you immunize someone without immunizing them against all four types, it might actually be worse," he said.

However, hope is on the horizon.

"Many biotechnological approaches have been used in attempts to develop dengue vaccine candidates, including live attenuated vaccines, infectious clone-derived vaccines, recombinant live vector systems, subunit vaccines and nucleic acid vaccines," reports the State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization.

Major projects to fight dengue are being undertaken by private and academic researchers in the United States, France, and Australia.

The Thai project, initiated in 1976, chose to make a live attenuated virus vaccine, an approach used successfully against poliomyelitis, measles, and mumps.

Under this method, the virus loses its disease-causing properties while retaining the ability to stimulate the production of antibodies.

Dom

[KeithD]

Here is the WHO report with the correct info http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/.../en/index.html

They have 'got' vaccines.....From DNA, to protein marker type, most are in trials, but they are not proven as vaccines so can not be called as such yet.

The fact that one of them has to be passed through dogs kidney multiple times, and then used a Green Monkey culture shows how far off they are from finding a way to manufacture them, if they do pass all phase tests. This is the part that will take 5-10 years.

[mike]

Thanks guys for all your advice