Job Discussion Forums

[brettb]

Hi,

I just arrived in Taiwan from Canada and before leaving Canada we went to our travel advisory health clinic and made sure we were up to date with our vaccinations.

One thing that came up was that Canada doesn't believe it is necessary to vaccinate against Japanese Encephalitis if you are traveling to Taiwan and staying outside of rural areas. But we were told that if we are going to spend a great deal of time in rural areas or the mountainous region then we should consider the vaccine.

As it turned out, the vaccination course requires two shots with a period of time in between them and we just didn't have enough time to get this done before we left.

So! My questions!

Has anyone else had the Japanese Encephalitis vaccination before coming or after getting here? Does the local population get vaccinated?


For those of you unfamiliar, it is transmitted by mosquito bite and it is extremely extremely rare. However, those that are infected have a 30% chance of dying, a 30% chance of surviving but with brain damage and a 30% chance of surviving without brain damage.

Thanks for your feedback.

[dangerousapple]

This does not need to be very high on your list of fears.

As far as I know, only one of the hepatitis variants is of concern here, but I'm not sure which one. Dengue Fever does occur, but bug spray is the way to stay safe against that one. Other than that, Taiwan is exactly as dangerous as Canada...when it comes to diseases, anyway.

[yamahuh]

We got J.E shots before leaving Canada but that was because we were going to rural China to work. Shouldn't think there's any reason to worry about it in Taiwan.

[brettb]

Thanks for your comments. I do appreciate your feedback.