It is recommended for anyone staying in the Philippines for longer than 1 month to have the following vaccinations least 4-6 weeks before departure :
- Yellow Fever - 10 days before travel
- Hepatitis A - 2 weeks
- Typhoid fever - 10 days
- Japanese encephalitis - 1 month
- Hepatitis B - 3 to 4 weeks
- Tuberculosis - 3 months
- Rabies - 1 month
- Diphtheria - 3 months
- Tetanus - 1 day
We also need to have caution when going to areas near water or rural areas where mosquitoes are prevalent. The following infectious diseases are spread by mosquito bites:
Malaria - there are no vaccines yet but there are prevention drugs available. However, the side effects of the drugs are quite significant so one must consider if the risks outweigh the side effects that one may experience when taking these drugs. You need to take the drugs few weeks prior to the trip.
Dengue fever - caused by a virus also spread by mosquitoes. Only prevention available is using insect repellants and using impregnated (sprayed) mosquito nets at nighttime.
Believe it or not, I would not have thought about this if not for my inlaws and co-workers mentioning about the necessity of vaccinations for our travel to the Philippines. As a native of this country and someone who has lived here for 24 years of my life and have not seen or knew anyone who have gotten sick from the diseases mentioned below I do not have any fears of getting sick other than getting the usual travelers diarrhea. But then, my husband has never traveled to a tropical country and have not been exposed at all to these diseases so I guess it is worth considering these precautions. We’ll schedule a visit to our huisarts (family doctor) one of these days.
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4 responses so far ↓
1 jane // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:22 am
as with travelling to other countries, certain precautionary measures should be observed. The Diptheria and Tetanus and Tuberculosis would have been covered by the DPT and BCG vaccinations given to children if he had it when he was young.
2 zylla // Aug 7, 2008 at 4:06 am
Hi Mixxy,
When my husband first visited the Philippines 5 summers ago, we remembered the necessary vaccinations. Having been there regularly every year now, I guess we had been so complacent that we started ignoring insect repellants and relied on the screens.
We paid for that mistake. Only when we were in the hospital room that I realized there was an incredible surge of dengue cases this year esp. in Manila and QC. We experienced 6 scary days at the FEU hospital (5 min. away from the house). The dengue-carrier mosquito had singled out my husband. He was close to having a real Filipino blood in his veins (blood transfusion), which could have turned him brown. Kidding aside, I thank my lucky star he didn’t get to the bleeding stage.
I count my blessings that it happened earlier in our 6-wk stay, and he had the time to recuperate. I shudder at the thought of cancelled flights. We were able to dodge the typhoons, too…on a wing and a prayer, we finally got back last night.
3 mixxy // Aug 10, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Hi zylla,
glad to have you back! Wish you stayed longer. I am really glad your husband is doing well now. We’ll try to be more careful then.
4 zylla // Aug 10, 2008 at 10:33 pm
Maybe next time that we’re the Philippines, you would be there too. I’ll follow your trip to the Philippines. Good luck!
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