Travel Immunization: Danger or Safety?
Anyone who travels has a nightmare story of a great trip going horribly awry by catching a bug of some sort.
This author can recall the all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas to cover the Adult Video News Awards when food poisoning attacked rendering me only capable of shivering into my gratis cocktails, which soon morphed into tea with honey and lemon.
The after parties were out of the question.
Being a guy that has traveled quite a bit, it would have done me a great service to have visited a certified travel clinic and receiving the apropos immunization or immunizations.
This way my trip to Disneyland-for-adults would have given me better memories than sitting on the toilet bowel for a day and a half! With nightmares like this, one may ask why one wouldn't actively seek out travel immunization and the other specialized care that visiting a travel clinic affords you.
When one begins to read about immunization as a practice-and sees the term "live virus vaccine"-a clearer picture begins to emerge.
The fact is that live virus immunizations have been par-for-the course for as long as vaccines have existed.
All though they may sound unappealing and a tad dangerous, overall they have been safe and effective since the practice has begun.
One of the most popular and currently requested immunizations - or vaccines - is for protection against yellow fever.
This vaccine is a live virus vaccine but the virus has been genetically altered so that it cannot infect the recipient of the vaccine with the disease.
That is to say, that although the term "live virus" is appropriate there is no danger of acquiring the disease through an inoculation.
This is very important to understand, because many people think that receiving these shots is a crap-shoot.
It's not.
They are safe and effective.
With these facts stated, there are still safety measures that exist.
For instance, a live yellow fever vaccine will not be administered to pregnant women and patients with compromised immune systems no matter their travel plans.
The science is not 100% accurate in individuals who are not as healthy as they can possibly be.
A non-live virus immunization for yellow fever is currently going through trials in order to be FDA approved.
Once that occurs, everyone needing protection from the disease-no matter what their medical status-will be able to be totally protected when they travel.
Live virus vaccines exist in large numbers and are not to be feared as they are being administered every day to people who plan to travel overseas.
Examples include vaccines for- • Measles • Mumps • Rubella • Oral polio vaccine • Chicken pox As stated previously, although advances are being made in immunization science, live virus vaccines are not to be avoided no matter what rumor was read on the internet or what some has-been actress says on a daytime talk show.
They are crucial to healthy journeys, and in the case of the yellow fever vaccine, just may be the law-of-the-land depending on where your trip takes you.
This author can recall the all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas to cover the Adult Video News Awards when food poisoning attacked rendering me only capable of shivering into my gratis cocktails, which soon morphed into tea with honey and lemon.
The after parties were out of the question.
Being a guy that has traveled quite a bit, it would have done me a great service to have visited a certified travel clinic and receiving the apropos immunization or immunizations.
This way my trip to Disneyland-for-adults would have given me better memories than sitting on the toilet bowel for a day and a half! With nightmares like this, one may ask why one wouldn't actively seek out travel immunization and the other specialized care that visiting a travel clinic affords you.
When one begins to read about immunization as a practice-and sees the term "live virus vaccine"-a clearer picture begins to emerge.
The fact is that live virus immunizations have been par-for-the course for as long as vaccines have existed.
All though they may sound unappealing and a tad dangerous, overall they have been safe and effective since the practice has begun.
One of the most popular and currently requested immunizations - or vaccines - is for protection against yellow fever.
This vaccine is a live virus vaccine but the virus has been genetically altered so that it cannot infect the recipient of the vaccine with the disease.
That is to say, that although the term "live virus" is appropriate there is no danger of acquiring the disease through an inoculation.
This is very important to understand, because many people think that receiving these shots is a crap-shoot.
It's not.
They are safe and effective.
With these facts stated, there are still safety measures that exist.
For instance, a live yellow fever vaccine will not be administered to pregnant women and patients with compromised immune systems no matter their travel plans.
The science is not 100% accurate in individuals who are not as healthy as they can possibly be.
A non-live virus immunization for yellow fever is currently going through trials in order to be FDA approved.
Once that occurs, everyone needing protection from the disease-no matter what their medical status-will be able to be totally protected when they travel.
Live virus vaccines exist in large numbers and are not to be feared as they are being administered every day to people who plan to travel overseas.
Examples include vaccines for- • Measles • Mumps • Rubella • Oral polio vaccine • Chicken pox As stated previously, although advances are being made in immunization science, live virus vaccines are not to be avoided no matter what rumor was read on the internet or what some has-been actress says on a daytime talk show.
They are crucial to healthy journeys, and in the case of the yellow fever vaccine, just may be the law-of-the-land depending on where your trip takes you.
Source...