Vaccination

Before your departure, it might be necessary to get a travel vaccination consultation and a personal medical check-up.

Recommended basic vaccination:

Tetanus

-Means of transmission: injuries

Diphtheria

-Means of transmission: contact with infected people

Polio

-Means of transmission: food, water (in Africa and some Asian countries)

Hepatitis A

-Means of transmission: food, water

Hepatitis B

-Means of transmission: blood, surgery, sexual contact, sometimes sanitary articles

Additional recommended vaccination:

Yellow fever

-Means of transmission: mosquitoes (South America, Africa)

Other vaccinations:

Typhoid fever

-Means of transmission: food, water(vaccination offers only limited protection)

Meningococcal meningitis

-Means of transmission: close contact to sick people or children (Africa, southern Sahara region, North India, etc.)

Rabies

-Means of transmission: animal bite > fatal if no immediate countermeasures are taken

Japanese encephalitis

-Means of transmission: mosquitoes, poor living conditions (near animal shelters, etc.). Undesirable reaction to vaccination very unlikely with the new vaccine

Tick-borne encephalitis

-Means of transmission: ticks (Europe, Russia)

Cholera

-Means of transmission: water > oral vaccine only helpful to a limited degree, risk of getting cholera is generally very low

Influenza (especially people over 60 years of age)

-Means of transmission: droplet infection

How to protect yourself against mosquito-borne diseases:

Febrile and other illnesses are ofen spread by mosquitoes in warm climatic zones. One example is dengue fever. For this reason, protecting yourself against mosquito bites is of major importance. protect yourself with:

- (insecticide-treated) mosquito net

- efficient rubbing lotion

- appropriate clothing (maybe treated with insect repellent at openings/ seams)

- «no bite» (mosquito repellent) – to spray on clothes

Malaria prophylaxis:

Malaria is a treatable, but often very severe illness. If you have a fever during or after traveling to a high-risk malaria area, chances are you suffer from this illness - please immediately contact a local doctor! In medium-risk areas, it might be a good idea to carry malaria emergency mediacation with you, due to possible counterfeiting of medicines. Before going to high-risk areas, malaria prophylaxis might be a good option, depending on the actual risk to get ill, the travel conditions, the unwanted effects of the medication, personal health, etc. We do not recommend taking a rapid test with you, since any case of suspected malaria will automatically lead to a visit at the doctor's or to an emergency treatment.

For further information, please see the following addresses:

Up-to-date recommendations can be found at the following:

Switzerland: Inselspital Bern 031 632 88 99, www.insel.ch/reisemedizin;

Swiss Tropical Institute Basel 0900 57 51 31 (CHF 2.13/Min)

Germany: Reisemedizinzentrum Munich 089 388 599 37