Vaccinations!

I almost forgot to tell everyone about my fun trip to the travel doctor!

Since I'm a student at the UW, I can get vaccinations at University Health Services. The only good thing about all of the construction on campus is the shiny new buildings that I get to use, one of which houses UHS now.

I made the appointment a few weeks ago and spent the intervening time trying to track down my vaccination records. I have the doctor's information from my more recent shots (for college and middle school), but they didn't have anything about my baby shots! Luckily my mom kept track of all of my vaccinations (what a good parent), so I was able to answer all of the questions with reasonable certainty.

I met with the travel doctor on April 3rd. I think the UW does a good job in that you have to meet with someone and discuss you trip a bit before they recommend vaccinations. AYO suggests getting up to date on Hepatitis A and B and Typhoid Fever. I was good on Hep. B, and their information turned out to be correct, but it's good to speak with a doctor about this. She also was able to give me perscriptions for two drugs to take with me and recommendations on what activities/things to avoid.

Now, I'm a huge nerd about medicine, so I hope you'll indulge me a bit while I elaborate. My first perscription is for Ciprofloxacin, which treats traveler's diarrhea. This isn't a specific disease, but more a condition caused by travelling to an area you're not used to. Basically, everybody has certain bacteria and organisms living in their body based on where they live and who they come in contact with. These organisms are not harmful, and very often are helpful. When you travel to a very different area such as South Africa, though, you are exposed to different types of nonpathogenic (not-disease-causing) bacteria. They don't hurt you, but your body sometimes takes a bit to adjust to this new "gut flora" (gut organisms), which can cause diarrhea. It probably sounds gross to most people, but it's really interesting to me!

I also got a perscription for Malarone, which is an anti-malarial. A lot of people have the mistaken assumption that there is a vaccine for malaria, which is not the case. Malaria is caused by a parasite, and because parasites are so much more complex than viruses or bacteria, they are much harder to make vaccines for. At this time I don't think there are any vaccines for parasitic diseases (though I could be wrong!). I'm taking a parasitology class this semester, so I've been learning all about this.

Lastly, the doctor explained some activties to avoid, such as petting any animals (like dogs), for fear of rabies. Also, she warned me against going into any freshwater lakes or rivers (even just wading). This last bit was because of Schistosomiasis, another disease caused by a parasite that can penetrate your intact skin and give you some pretty bad rashes (or worse). Another parasite from my class!

After this discussion the travel doctor sent me over to get my actual vaccines: Hep. A, Typhoid Fever, and polio. This last one was because I was due for a booster shot, not because of any inherent risk of polio in South Africa. I got two in my left arm and one in the right, and the one that hurt the most was the polio, which was subcutaneous. This means that instead of injecting it into muscle, they pull a flap of skin away from your arm and inject it there. Ouch! I have a brand new respect for people who deal with diabetes.

Anyway, I'm sure many of you reading this found this entry to be gross/boring, but let me just say that as a Medical Microbiology and Immunology major, and even though I don't like shots, this was one of the most exciting and interesting parts of the trip yet!