non-vaxing and traveling to africa?

[conniebonnie]

Hello- any thoughts or ideas on taking what would normally be a non-vaxed (or very selective vaxed) baby to guinea, africa?

now- heres the background.
im still pregnant (baby due in may) but we recently started tentatively planning an extended family trip to africa for the christmas of 2010... i know a long ways off.
but, baby will be about 1 and a half then, and there is plenty of time to get monies.
however, my questions are about the bambino-
we plan on extremely selective if any vaxing.
anyone have experience with taking a baby to a similar country? should we wait longer? are there some vax we would just need for him/her?
obviously i am hitting up some other resources for info too, but i know that all the government sites are full of not always correct information, and its a little harder to weed out the truth when its not just here in the us.

i would love you thoughts!
c

[Fyrestorm]

Not sure what is endemic or epidemic in Guinea...I have taken my totally vaccine free DD to Egypt though..she was about a year at the time and I never gave it a second thought. I was way more worried about what non vaxable bugs she might pick up on the 13 hour flight.

[Sarah W]

I think it depends on what part of Africa you plan on visiting. I think the only thing I'd look into was whether it was a malaria area or not. Like the poster above, we went to Egypt while I was pg and it didn't even require any additional vaccines than the ones you would get in the US. (I'm heavily vaccinated because I'm military)

[familyfive]

I would think it would depend a lot on what you are doing and where you are going. I'm not quite sure what is in Guinea that you would be going for, but would suspect tourist destinations such as safari tours would be more okay, as usually the tourist areas are quite conscious of keeping employees and guests healthy. Travelling rurally in the countryside or in urban areas... areas that are not "tourist destinations" such as ANYWHERE outside of national parks or resorts, I would be extremely wary of without vaxing.

Malaria is prevented orally so you are okay there.

I have not been to West Africa. I have travelled multiple times in East Africa, both in and outside of tourist areas (mostly out). The last time with a 6, 4, and 2 yo, all vaxed. We knew in country we were exposed to Polio and found out mid-trip there was a large menegitis outbreak in the area where we were. We were notified by the CDC after returning home that we had also been exposed to Hep A. We were spending time with many locals so the group was likely much more high risk than what you would be exposed too. I personally would not take my children to Africa without vax, after the things I have seen there, even outside of the "high risk" areas (and I love Africa). The diseases are there and risk of exposure can be very high, effective treatment can be hard to find (or to far away, or not a safe blood supply, or lack of medicine, etc). I think it is one of those cases where vacinating is more than justified (and by that I mean being in Africa with the increased risk, justifies it... if doing it all for a vacation does is up to you).

I just looked up Guniea on WHO and the state dept, and it looks like Yellow Fever is the big concern there. They do require an international vax record for admittance into the country. I have had mixed results with those requirements. In Ethiopia, they checked it thoroughly although it was at the time only recommended not required, they gave a lot of trouble to someone who didn't have it. In Kenya it was glanced at the first time and never asked for the second time. In Tanzania I wasn't asked for it either. But should you ignore the requirement and then get asked for it, you could have an issue at customs.

[conniebonnie]

we would be working in an orphanage my friend's sister runs out in the bush.

[askew]

I would get the Polio vax in your case, personally. I think Yellow Fever is the only vax that can be required by law. I would take the rest in a case by case basis, as in look at what is going on in the area when you go.

[kangaroomum25]

If I was worried I would take an arsinal of stuff with me before I vaxed. Sodium ascorbate, (I'd try to take clo and bo, not sure since those need to be kept cold) I'd keep a supply of ferments (ya know they used kimchee to cure avian flu in chickens?) Homeopathics. GSE for the water. I'm sure there's a few other's I'd think of. I see no reason for putting poison in mine or my kids bodies when they need to be their healthiest. I really think one of the main reasons they're still having a problem with polio is because of the pesticides (ddt) that were banned in the US but are still being used in 3rd world countries. I've read too many cases of children being given *multiple* (read up to 12) doses of the polio vaccine and still getting polio to think that the vaxes are actually effective. I posted some good links about the problem with the polio vaccine in the "should 3rd world countries vax" (or something like that) thread.

[alegna]

Personally, I wouldn't take such a young kid into that situation. Partially b/c I wouldn't consider vaxing before 2 years.

-Angela