Traveling Overseas Without Shots?

I'm planning to travel to Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar Island this xmas break on an educational tour. Myself and some of the people in the group aren't comfortable getting shots/vaccinations and would feel more comfortable taking the natural route. I myself am a vegetarian and consume mostly organic foods. So the idea of taking drugs doesn't sit too well with me.

Has anyone traveled to Africa without taking shots? Are you familiar with any natural antibiotics and preventative medicines? The group leader recommended Quinine to protect against malaria. Also, I've been doing some reading on colloidal silver, a natural antibiotic (I actually used it once and it works great but I didn't know that it was good as a protectant against malaria). Has anyone heard of or experienced any other natural medicine?

I hear that yellow fever immunizations may be required when traveling to Kenya. Is this true?

It makes very little sense (in my experience) to search for alternative protection against malaria when the suggested ones have been tested, and proven to be as effective as possible. Malarone. Lariam.

Anything else is not going to protect you as well as you could be protected.

Vegetarians should (again, my experience) be careful. We instruct our clients to avoid all raw salads, fruit that isn't peeled.. we really urge them to eat only well-cooked vegetables and such fruits as bananas, melons. Why? The purified water used to wash the salad greens, tomatoes, grapes, etc., still may contain bacteria your system won't like.

Expecting anything unusual (genuine organic foods) might set you up for more problems. Not big problems. Just conversations with waiters (Is this organic?) that will make your trip more complicated than you might otherwise have.

You do not need a yellow fever immunization anymore, even traveling between the 2 countries.

No, but they are probably required when you cross borders going from one African country to another. I believe you won't get around the yellow fever inoculation. There may be another one.

The other very serious worry is malaria. There are a few highly efficient drugs available. My best experience is with Malarone, which apparently has no side effects. (It certainly does have some, but I know nobody who has felt them.)

Particularly when you move about the coast (Zanzibar), you are at severe risk. Do not try to use ineffective drugs.

Also use the mosquito bednet conscientiously and also apply some insect repellant. This is the point where you can try the best natural, probably herbal, substances.

Finally, and unrelated, I recommend to eat carefully and hold back on raw salads and other stuff that's not boiled or peeled. There are very nice fruits there though.

Lots of microscopic critters live in Africa that want no more than to upset your digestion. They are usually not really dangerous, but they can be unpleasant.

I have travelled back and forth to Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. This has been done over the last 20 yrs and have been to very rural locations. My family and I have always taken precautions against malaria as my father had a very bad bout which was very scary, I hasten to add he contracted it before he had taken anti malaria meds! Yellow fever and typhoid innoculatins will more than likely be compulsory, but they last for 10 years so you don't have to go through the aggro too often. Cholera may aslo be suggested, but there is some doubt over the benefits. Take plenty of insect repellant, unfortunately none of the more natural, usually citronella based lotions work nearly as well as those containing DEET. It is the only thing that will really repel the mosquitoes. Please don't take chances, innoculations are there for a reason. Have a great time wherever you decide to travel.

Here's the bottom line... All of the people (and I know many, many cases) I know who have contracted malaria have one of two things in common: a) They were not dilligent about taking the conventional medical drugs (mefloquine, doxycycline, etc) or b) The were using homeopathic prophylaxis.

I don't know of ONE SINGLE CASE of anyone in sub-saharan Africa who has dilligently taken the conventional meds and still contracted the disease. This includes the Chloroquine/proguanil combination.

I was close to two people who DIED from malaria. Both of them were on some form of homeopathic prophylaxis, in spite of warnings against them. Both also tried homeopathic treatment of the malaria and refused conventional medical treatment. Both of them died after slipping into a coma.

Why is called 'slipping into a coma'? It sounds so serene and peaceful. In reality, going into a coma due to malaria is ugly, excruciatingly painful, and something I wouldn't wish on anyone. Your red blood cells are essentially exploding inside your body, your body temperature soars, the parasites riddle your body, finally reaching the brain. Isn't it ironic that the last organ that the malaria effects, is the one organ that you should use to prevent yourself from getting the disease in the first place - your brain.

You say that 'the idea of taking drugs doesn't sit too well' with you. How well does an agonizing death sit with you? There is a good chance that you will not contract malaria if you don't take any prophylaxis at all, but are dilligent about using repellants, but if you get bitten by a malarial mosquito, you will get malaria. By the time you get back to Europe/USA you will develop simple, flu-like symptoms. A vague headach, possibly sore throat, mild fever etc. Nothing too serious, after all you've just returned from another country, you've been cooped up in an airplane etc.You take sone form of natural antibiotic, and you feel lousy for the day until the 'flu' clears up. Three or four days later, the 'flu' reappears, a little worse this time. No problemo - you take your natural antibiotics again and wait. This time the flu doesn't clear up in one day, and by the third day you feel very ill. Maybe you try some other homeopathic remedy. After five days you realise that there is something seriously wrong. You go to a doctor or hospital. They have no clue what is wrong with you, because they don't know where to start looking. They after all, don't have any experience with tropical diseases (even a nurses assistant in rural Uganda can spot malaria). After two days of frantically trying to figure out what's wrong with you, the hospital finally decides to look in the liver. But by this stage, your liver is riddled with parasites, you are experiencing retinal hemoraging (you bleed from your eyeballs), you can't keep any food down, you are anaemic, you have constant intolerable headaches that don't respond to pain medication, your kindeys start to fail, your body is warkked by painfull spasms.

By the time anyone knows what's wrong with you, you're dead. Simply because you didn't use your brain (and some relatively harmless drugs) in the first place.

You said 'Has anyone heard of or experienced any other natural medicine?' Malaria effects 100million people, and about 1% of those (ABOUT 1 MILLION PEOPLE EVERY YEAR) will die from it. You can bet your bottom dollar (they do) that every pharmaceutical company worldwide is looking at the ultimate malaria prevention/cure. So far, they have only come up with the chemical concoctions that you don't want to use. Malaria has been with humans ever since humans and mosqitos co-existed. Malaria is one of the longest known diseases, and through millenia of trying herbal, natural, organic etc. remedies, NONE of them have EVER worked, apart from quinine, and this only really worked effectively and safely after it was chemically replicated in 1820.

I'm sorry if this sounds like a personal rant with you. It's not. It's just that I get so mad when I hear of people who come to sub-Saharan Africa with notions that they're visiting Disneyland's African Adventureland. This is not Europe. This is not the USA.

One of the biggest favours you can do yourself is to get hold of a BBC documentary called 'Africa Village' in which a British couple and their kids are sent to live with a typical family in Swaziland for about 8 weeks. Forget about Survivor, Disneyland, King Solomon's Mines, Indiana Jones, and The African Queen. That's what Africa is all about.

I'll go take a cold shower now then...

Marc

On 25 Nov 2004 07:58:06 -0800, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (Former Member)

Regards,

Sure, these are anecdotal, however, I'm pretty sure that good

I agree. People can't even remember to take daily birth control pills, let alone one pill a day, and another once a week for malaria. I'm sorry, but Africa punishes the stupid and moronic.

Once again, I agree completely. Personally I use doxy because it has the least effect on me.

Once again, I agree with you completely. If you're not going to complete the dosing regime then you expose yourself to risk. Please don't think that I was advocating chloroquine/proguanil over any other regime, I was simply saying that, in my experience, you will probably not get malaria if you use the conventional chemo/medical prophylaxis, but if you mess about with homeopathic or 'natural' substances, you quite likely will.

I traveled to Kenya last January...Don't worry about the food...everything served was fresh and peeled...the food was very delicious...I was impressed..as a vegetarian you will be in the right place the food is great...just relax and enjoy yourself.....I did!

No.. yellow fever shot is not required...nothing is required...it's your own choice to have them

I drank lots of purified water in Kenya........ Don't worry.....

If you want to know what Africa is all about you should ask a 'true' African....I have talked to many 'Kenyans' and they tell me how wonderful and beautiful Kenya is and thier lives..the people....warm..friendly..happy..their values..traditions..the African way. they are happy people.if you go to Kenya you are going to a place where people are true ..noone will say thank you or sorry unless they really mean it....and they go for the heart..I could listen to their charming stories all day.. That is how I found Kenya to be...... That is the place I love..... from usa