In June I'm going to SE Asia alone for 6 months (I might also visit India during the trip). I've been reading lots of horror stories online about malaria, Japanese encephalitis and dengue fever. Should I be worried about catching these diseases or am I just being pathetic?
nah, it's gonna be alright.
protip: when reading up, pay attention to frequency of occurrence of events, aka statistics, rather than individual (horror) stories. When you are reading individual stories try to assess how typical they are.
>>1092508
Nothing to do about dengue but avoid mosquito bites, anyway. But if you get it, yes, you will regret it. Good friend of mine got it in Chiang Mai a few years ago, and she was bedridden and miserable for at least two weeks. We were working there at the time, so it was less trouble for us than it might have been for a backpacker, but two weeks when you can't get out of bed would wreck many trips.
I advocate caution w regard to Japanese encephalitis, too, despite the fact that I lived there for years without getting vaccinated for it and did not get sick (I did eventually get vaccinated for both that and Hep).
The risk of JE is almost vanishingly small. But the consequences are so bad that it's worth avoiding. You won't get it, but if you do, you have a 25% chance of it killing you and a great risk of brain damage if you survive.
>>1092783
Get vaccinated and get malaria medicine, damn man. If you're to be travelling SEA you will probably get bitten by a few hundreds of mosquitos during those 6 months, despite you trying your best not to.
>>1092789
I plan to get malaria medicine, so that's a definite. But my doctor told me not to bother vaccinating for Japanese encephalitis... is that unwise? I hear it's only really prevalent around rice fields.
Okay, I plan to get my JE shot when I arrive in Bangkok (Thailand is my first destination). I'll also probably get my rabies shot(s) then too, and plan my trip accordingly around the 28-day rabies shot timetable. I have plenty of DEET and plenty of Doxycycline for the trip. So if anyone has any experience of this or has any questions for me on shots etc (I've been doing lots of reading), then ask away!
Go to a travel clinic, regular doctors really have no idea because they don't keep up to date on the situation with traveling abroad.
For my RTW trip I went to my regular doctor, got two shots, then for a second opinion I went to a major travel clinic and they ended up giving me 6 additional shots and lots of medications.
>>1094004
Did you go to a travel clinic at home or during your trip? I'm going to visit the travel clinic in Bangkok when I arrive there.
>>1094012
I would do plenty of research before trusting that. Much of the medical care in Thailand is just designed to rip off tourists, especially international clinics. Some are fine just know what you're getting into.
I used a travel clinic in the US that handled things for the students and staff of a major university. They were incredibly helpful and my insurance covered the vaccinations.
>>1092508
you won't die from dengue fever, I had one in 2011, 10 days hospitalized.
June, July and August are the worst period,
before you go, make sure you're covered by international insurance. if you hit something bad, just go to hospital (bangkok groupe hospitals are legit, there're in big cities)
