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Tanzania information:Travel and Health Precautions
Traveling to East Africa, no matter how many times you have done it, is an exciting adventure. Africa is a place that will have a full on assault your senses rip out your heart and have you returning again and again –it is an insatiable appetite never sated. In returning often to the tropics it is possible to become complacent about health and the necessary precautions and effort it takes to retain it. If your dream vacation is not to turn into disaster, it is essential to take your shots,or you may end returning home to spend time in hospital; or worse spending time in a hospital far from home.
As no one has any spare time to make time to attend a clinic that specializes in tropical medicine and is able to advise you on what shots and medicines you must have is the first step to enjoying your safari. It is essential to make this time as the advice you receive from the clinic will prevent tropical disease from taking you hostage. If you decide against the shots, it is the first click of the revolver in a game of deadly health roulette. I speak from bitter experience.
The second step to a safe tropical vacation is the time it takes to get all the shots and the tablets and the sprays. If left to the last minute then there simply won’t be enough time to get all the shots –as it is often not possible to get everything done in one visit. Be warned it can also be very expensive getting up to date with shots if it is your first trip to the tropics allow for this expense in the budget.
Some shots take a few days to become effective. As in the case of Yellow Fever –the vaccination may cause a few days of discomfort or sometimes a mild illness. If you travel into a country with Yellow Fever then entry into the area depends on you having a valid up-to-date card to prove you have had the shot. It takes ten days before the Yellow Fever shot becomes valid or effective in protecting you - but the good news is one shot lasts ten years.
[more on Yellow Fever]
Probably the single most important piece of kit in your tropical disease arsenal is the medication to protect you from malaria - the prophylaxis/antimalarials. Once when I visited the Kenyan/Ugandan border I failed to take any prophylaxis precaution against malaria –‘familiarity breads content’. I contracted a rare form of malaria –it took four months for the malaria to show any symptoms resulting in my doctor, friends and even the School of Tropical Medicine not believing I had malaria. I became very ill before anyone took notice. I spent a week in hospital, two weeks at home and almost certainly a year to fully recover. [more on malaria]
The malaria parasite lay dormant in my liver for months [in some cases it can wait years before striking the host]. It was very difficult to eradicate form my system. Even now the doctors are not a 100% sure that this pesky little parasite has been eradicated from my liver - for the rest of my life every time I get ill I have to be aware that it could be the malaria returning.
I cannot urge you strongly enough to take the time and effort to get yourself and your family to a clinic that specializes in tropical medicine before you travel. Make the effort and spend the money to reduce the risk of bringing some unwanted guests home - tropical diseases are just not pleasant and can kill very quickly