HELP! travel to Africa and my kids not vaccinated?

[dewlady]

hey there...
i would love some help from all the wonderfully intelligent mama's and papa's here on this issue...

my sister lives in Togo on and off with her two kids. Her son and my son are VERY close. This last time they were here they were best friends. Anyway, They left for Togo in Sept, and will be there for a few years. My parents are going over to visit in May and have asked if they can take my 6 yr old ds with them.

I have never vaccinated my kids. I never plan too.

there are a lot of people I know that don't vac but they are always saying that if they were to travel somewhere like africa that they would.

I really don't buy this or want to vac my son, but i need some info.

any help?
am i crazy?
should i just get the big ones like polio, hep? maybe tetnus? (these are the only ones that scare me a little)

not that i really believe they work all the time (or at all?)

sorry, i am just having one of those moments...

[Genesis]

I'm not sure if this will be helpful to you or not, but here is the CDC page on travelling to Togo... http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/destinationTogo.aspx

[superlori]

I hope you get some good answers, because I'm curious myself, but I certainly don't have them!!

[crocus]

We're planning to visit Rwanda next summer for 3 weeks and my DD (3.5 months) has never been vaxed either. I was wondering the same thing.

[AngelBee]

:

[LukesMum]

I live inthe Middle East with 2 unvaxed kids and did not vax to go to Africa. Of course, we went to Egypt-very different than other parts of Africa but still very dirty and absolutely there are diseases there my kids could have gotten. I would not vax for a vacation. We go to places with clean water, we are careful what we eat ( hepatitis scare) and have strong immune systems before we go. I use lots of vitamin C and echinacea beforehand. You are supposed to have a yellow fever vax to enter Africa but they rarely check. I think the diseases in Africa pertain to people living with poor quality water, weakended immunity and long term exposure. For a vacation, I doubt they will come into contact with polio (for ex.) and you dont just catch it walking down the street. We've spent lots of time all over the ME and in Asia-went to Inida for 3 weeks last year. Intact immune systems and clean food and water are my choices over vaxes.

[lovingmommyhood]

Just out of curiosity where in Togo are they living?