WWYD? travelling to a developing country with unvaccinated children

[kdescalzi]

Hi mamas,

I have 2 lo's. 4yd ds and 2yr dd who are not vaccinated. My dh is from a developing country in South America. We need to go visit his family but I am petrified about my childrens safety. We travelled there once before when my son was 2. He got some roto virus??? and was hospitalized. SCARIEST time of my life....it still haunts me. Now am so scared to take them but my dh really wants his family to meet our daughter etc. WWYD?

[Mosaic]

Where are you going, and to what parts of the country?

[Arduinna]

I would not vax for a trip, if I really felt it was unsafe health wise I wouldn't go.

[kdescalzi]

Its Quito,Ecuador. I can't deny my dh's family a chance to meet and see our children. He has a lot of elderly family members that cannot travel so it is up to us to go there. I really don't want to go but my dh obviously does. It is a huge issue in our household. I can't fathom vaccinating for one trip but I can't put them at risk either. WWYD?

[Marnica]

well what in particular are you concerned about? I mean what diseases? Persoanlly I agree with above poster. I would not vax for travel. If I was that concerned I wouldn't go.

[ma2two]

They might get sick, but it's extremely unlikely it would be with something that is routinely vaccinated for in the U.S. Better to keep their immune systems normal and natural so they can handle anything that they may encounter.

[kdescalzi]

thanks for the replies. I really don't want to risk them getting sick....even just drinking bad water in the tub. I can't refuse to go either. Any tips or books I can use to help boost their immune system and keep them as healthy as possible during the trip?? They do have diptehria there and here in Canada that vax is apart of a 3 part vaccine. I really don't want to vaccinate for that. So many roto type viruses are prevelant there too. So confused!!

[Marnica]

I would be giving them Vit D, Vit C CLO and probiotics to start.

[mamakah]

What specific diseases are you concerned about?

[SneakyPie]

There is no point avoiding the polio or MMR vaccines for a trip like this.  Just too risky, esp. if they bring back measles with them.  It is just way too communicable to kids who are too young to be vaccinated against it.

[PlayaMama]

if they have diphtheria i would be very concerned about that one. it has a rather high death rate from what i've read ranging from 7-10%. it also doesn't present with a high fever, so it might not seem to be as bad as it can be initially.

i waited until my dd was 2-3/4 before vaxing her because it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. her very first vax was the DTaP because diphtheria and tetanus are both diseases i'm concerned about. she had no reaction, not even when she had the shot. she was very calm and only complained that her leg hurt a bit. we boosted her with vitamin c before going, and i'm glad that i did it. if i was going somewhere that the disease was endemic, i'd be much more likely to vax for it.

[elisheva]

We wait until 3 before selectively vaxing. If my child were nearly 3, I would vax the DTaP for a trip like this and get more detailed info on what other illnesses are prevalent in Ecuador then decide accordingly. Your GP should be able to get whatever you want (ours, at least, has been very accomodating). I't's been a while since I looked at the BC vax schedule but does Canada even vax for rotovirus? I know I've seen it on the US vax schedule...

Also, you can get just a TD (tetanus-diptheria) in Canada - my ds2 was extraordinarily accident prone when he started walking and we keep chickens/visit a farm/etc...I wanted him to have tetanus but couldn't get it solo in a pediatric dose so I settled on just the TD. I think we did it when he was 1.5 or a bit older.

[Lisa1970]

There is not much that they vaccinate for in the US that would be of concern. If there are vaccinations only available in those areas, then I would look at them and see if any of them are worth it.