UKC

Are rabies vaccinations necessary for Peru? I am off to do the Huayhuash Circuit and noone seems to give a simple answer. They are expensive (£120 for the three injections) and even if you have them it seems you have to have further treatment if bitten. Is it worth the expense for peace of mind or is it easy enough to get emergency treatment if you need it?

In reply to madmags:

I had the jabs for Ecuador, for the vampire bats in the Amazon more than any worries about dogs. I would imagine the same would apply for any rainforest areas of Peru if you visit any.

I didn't pay a penny for my jabs thanks to the NHS, have you asked your GP?

One thing's for certain. You get rabies, you're f*cked.

In reply to madmags:

Woof!

In reply to Queequeg: GP has quoted £120. Another post code lottery I suspect!!

In reply to madmags:

I was advised to have the jabs when I was in Borneo ages ago. I chose not to because a) they are pricy and b) at the time, if bitten, the jabs had to be followed up by other treatment within 48hrs (I think). I wouldn't have been in the situation to get medical help within that timeframe, so didn't bother.

In reply to madmags: when i got my jabs for nepal back in 2000 i got all free through the nhs except for the rabies jabs which i had to pay for. cant remember the reason but on reading up on what happend if you get bit by an animal with rabies i paid it anyway, piece of mind and all that.

In reply to Caralynr:

I think that might still be the case.

In reply to madmags:

Bummer. Guess it's unlikely that you'd get bitten by anything.

Although it wasn't my reason for getting the jabs, there are very many feral dogs all over the place in SA, definitely worth carrying a stick and a pocketful of stones if you're out in the sticks/neaqr farms etc and you're worried about getting bitten. A mozzie net will be cheaper for bats

In reply to madmags: Hi, I went to Peru in 2004 and didn't bother with the rabies vaccine (I thought it was too expensive and it was not covered by the NHS unfortunately). Went to the jungle, Cusco, Inca Trail and Lake Titicaca - didn't get any dogs trying to bite me, so no problems!

Like you suggested, it isn't a vaccine if I remember correctly, it either just improves your chances of responding to treatment or buys you more time or something like that, so your best defence is to avoid getting bitten in the first place!

Good luck!

I didn't have it when we went in 2000 and I can't say I had any close/unwelcome encounters with dogs - trust me, as someone who is terrified of dogs I would remember!
I spoke at length with my GP before travelling and she didn't recommend Rabies as it's (apparantly) quite an unpleasant vaccination, plus as others say it only gives limited protection. I did have Hapatitus A and B, Typhioid and Yellow Fever vacciantions, also I had anti-Malaria tablets but the need for these depends on where you will be going in the country.

TBH I think it's perfectly reasonable that the NHS doesn't cover the cost of Malaria, Rabies or Yellow Fever Vaccinations/prevention. The NHS only has limited funds and if you can afford to travel to places where these diseases are a risk, surely afew extra £'s on jabs/tablets is well within your budget?

In reply to madmags: Mrs MJH had the rabies jabs when she went to Namibia for several months. I don't think they were any worse than other jabs she had at the time.

As you said it does not give you protection, but it prolongs the amount of time that you have before you need to get proper medical attention - that may be vital if you are going to be really off the beaten track.

Personally I think that I would get it, but I don't think there is a simple right/wrong answer. It will depend on the circumstances and risks of your trip.

In reply to MJH: Oh yes, I forgot to say, I was advised to definitely have the rabies jab if I was going to be there for a few months working. However, as I was going only going for a couple of weeks, visiting touristy locations, it wasn't something the GP was overly concerned about.

In reply to madmags:

I lived in Hong Kong and Germany as a kid, and they both had rabies issues in the local wildlife. Germany is now rabies free. In HK the ferral dogs on the hill behind us were known to have rabies, and I played on the hill most days. I guess compared to the bamboo snake a rabies bite would be small beer.

In 3 years in both countries each there was never anybody who contracted rabies. The mad rabid dog adverts you see at ports are just scare tactics.

Its up to you of course...

In reply to madmags:

I went to Peru and Equador last motnth for 4 weeks. We didn't get rabies jabs cos we booked quite late. As it was we weren't hassled by anything that wanted to bite us, we were generally in touristy areas.

We saw bats in the jugle but none near the camp.

Intersting bit of info we picked up though. If you go into bat caves you can contract rabies by inhaling infected bat poo ! so we were told not to go into bat caves

In reply to Jenny C:
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I also think it is reasonable to pay for holiday jabs. It just seems unfair that some do and some don't!!
Still can't decide but as we are rather off the beaten track I may have them as it gives more time to get treated if bitten.

In reply to madmags:

I would agree with you on that one.

In reply to madmags:

I had all the jabs for South America and Nepal (including Yellow Fever) but not Rabies, at least I don't recollect having it. It's supposed to have pretty nasty side effects so am sure I would remember those!

In reply to Rowie B:

I had quite a few jabs too for Ecuador. Including rabies and yellow fever. No ill effects from any of them. The only thing that affected me, and many many many people, is taking the anti-Malaria pills.

Spent 6 weeks in the Amazon, and the tribesmen all told me, the main reason anybody got ill whan out there, was not a bit or disease or infection, but rather their reactions to taking malaria pills! Great(!)

Horrible, horrible feeling...

In reply to madmags: I was bitten by a dog cycling through a small mountain town in Peru, it was a quiet but determined dog and came out of nowhere to bite me whilst travelling around 20mph. Local hospital had no vaccine (rabies doc only had a poster, construction workers hat and graph paper in his cabinet). The doc and I had to go and find the dog the next day to see if it had rabies..... needless to say it did not. In a crowd of around 20 bystanders I was given a public telling off from the dog owner and the doc for wearing shorts and 'asking to be bitten'!

The chicken I had for tea that night did have something very nasty and I spent a further 5 days in the village undertaking various bodily movements and trying to recover.

Bear in mind that you will have to be very, very sick for a Peruvian hospital to be any real help. I hope that helps you assess the relative risks!

Matt

In reply to Alejandro: If you get the more expensive anti-malarial drug (Malarone I think), you may get less or no side effects. I read about the possible side-effects of some of the other drugs and decided that I would prefer to pay a little more for the nice ones. The others had some horrible sounding side effects, which made me wonder whether contracting malaria was preferrable

In reply to Matt Bridgestock (LMC): Thanks for your story- I have booked my jabs!!!

In reply to madmags: no side effects for me from the rabies jab!