John Simons

Travel Health - Information Overload

Yesterday was our appointment to go to the health department in Gainesville so that we could get our Yellow Fever vaccinations. It is probably a good thing we didn’t go there before we signed up for this trip. Otherwise, we might never go. We spent more than two hours talking to the nurse, who specializes in infections diseases for travelers. She was very friendly and had a lot of information. Maybe too much information.

We learned about Yellow Fever, the vaccine, how effective it is etc. We also learned about the following diseases that have vaccines: Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and several others. We learned about Rabies. (Josh: don’t pet the capybaras.) We learned about illness from food and water (dysentary, typhoid, hepatitis A). We learned about deep vein thrombosis. We learned about diseases that come from mosquitoes: yellow fever (there is a vaccine), dengue fever (no vaccine, no cure), malaria (you can take pills, but we don’t need to). We learned about fungal infections and parasites (schistosomiasis - stay out of the water). We learned about a few more, as well.

At the end of the day, I guess all of this is a matter for faith - and precaution. I have two sore arms from 5 vaccinations. Josh only needed 3 vaccinations. The good news is that he didn’t kick the nurse.  Now that he is a teenager, he is much better about dealing with the things that he doesn’t like with a good attitude.  It is great to see him growing and maturing as he gets older.  We will probably by some travel health insurance, since public hospitals overseas are not always up to the highest standards.

Tags: Family, Health, mission, Paraguay

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