Job Discussion Forums

[stefanreynolds]

is the japanese encephalitis vaccine recommended for ALTS? and what about hep a and b?

[seklarwia]

I was told that if I was going somewhere for a long period of time it's a good idea to have the regular free boosters; I think they are polio, hep A, typhoids and something beginning with 'D' and mine were done on the spot in two shots.

For China I was told hep B was a good idea, but that it wasn't really a problem in Japan and at �30/shot and three shots required over a long period of time (like 6 months) this could be a headache to organise now.

And Japanese encephalitus is quite rare, so the vaccine is not even stocked by most travel nurses at regular GPs (they order it in on request) and really quite costly. I was told that unless I was planning to spend my time in E.Asia working in rice paddies it wasn't necessary.

[G Cthulhu]

[Apsara]

Don't be fooled by the name, Japanese encephalitis has not been an issue here for decades. As seklarwia says, even if you plan on travelling in other parts of Asia while here it's not a vaccine that is usually necessary.

It can be a good idea to have Hep A vaccinations as you can catch that anywhere including in your home country, and people I know who have had it (they didn't catch it in Japan) have told me that it's worth avoiding.

If you plan to do any travel to India or other areas where typhoid can be a problem you might want to get that vaccination in advance as it's not widely available in Japan. A friend of mine caught typhoid in India and then spent a month in a Tokyo hospital. The clinic she went to in Japan to ask about vaccinations had told her that they didn't do the typhoid jab because there is "no typhoid in Japan". Since plenty of Japanese people travel I don't know where they get that logic from, but you can get the vaccination at the International Clinic in Tokyo.

Hepatitis B you might want to consider if you plan on sharing needles or visiting prostitutes in Kabuki-cho. Otherwise, no.

Japan is a developed, first world country which is probably cleaner than your own country, no jabs necessary at all for the average person.

[LadyK]

I came to Japan from Florida, and I didn't need any shots

[seklarwia]