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Although aging, I'm generally a pretty healthy person with some travel experience in 'developing' countries. Never a problem.
We recently went on a second trip to Ecuador where we have been before. Not planning to visit high risk areas like the Amazon or the wet north coast where mosquito borne diseases may be common, I paid little attention to international travel warnings. I've been to Ecuador before, it's fine.
I became very sick in Cuenca EC, one of the cleanest cities in south America with arguably the best municipal water sanitation in Latin America.
Terrible fever out of nowhere, body aches, headache, stomach cramps, fatigue, weakness (no diarrhea) and near unconsciousness for days, weeks.
I did not seek medical attention. Whatever it was has not been diagnosed and I have not been to a doctor back in the US (too late now) even though a month later I still feel under the weather. This is purely speculative but after plenty of internet searching and reading I think I may have contracted -
- Typhoid fever -
Which was never on my radar.
Having lived abroad before I've had my Hepatitis A shots for eating street food. Outside of that and drinking bottled water I thought I was good to go.
Googling around for the last couple of days it turns out that typhoid fever (a type of bacterial salmonella) is widespread in south America just about everywhere. I'd barely heard of it and thought it died out in the 19th century with someone named Mary long ago and far away.
So I'm posting this in order for it to be searchable on the internet that typhoid is a common problem in south America, and that people from developed nations who have hardly heard of it in the last 150 years >
>> Should get an easy-peasy typhoid vaccination before they visit even the nicest places in the nicest cities in the nicest plateaus of the nicest countries of the Andes.
Glad you have recovered. I'm surprised Typhoid was never on your radar. I've only been to SA once and it was back in the 90s, was inoculated for Typhoid, Yellow Fever, Hep A, as well as all the usual vaccines. Took antimalarial meds too. I don't know much about it but I believe it's spread in the same way Hep A is spread.
It makes me no nevermind. I haven't been so sick in 40 years or maybe even my entire life, as I was in Ecuador last month.
Who pays any kind of attention to old diseases like typhoid? It's like ringing the alarm bells for the medieval bubonic plague, I had no idea typhoid even existed anymore.
Like I said, I put up the post as a Public Service Warning. Typhoid does still exist and it can be had in nicest places of south America. Next time I go to a tropical country you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm getting a typhoid shot.
Truly, who even thinks of olde tyme diseases like typhoid? Not me. (lesson learned)
Before going to China last year, a vaccine for typhoid fever was recommended by the CDC as well as the various travel websites. I didn't get it, mainly because our PCP didn't carry it, but I may consider it in the future.
I visited Ecuador last summer although I stayed in Guayaquil. I didn't have any health issues as I only drank either extremely boiled tap water or bottled water.
I also lived in Ecuador (in Guayaquil) for a year (1996/7) and never got any particular vaccines beforehand (and wasn't sick at all). Malaria pills were only needed for people planning on visiting the jungle/rainforest area.
Typhoid vaccination is recommended for travel to almost all developing countries, from Asia to Central/South America to Africa. You can boil all the water you want, it doesn't prevent someone in the restaurant kitchen spreading it to your food with hands.
We did get yellow fever but knew we were going into the Amazon rainforest, it was easy to get for relatively cheap at the airport in Lima on arrival, and we calculated had enough time for effectiveness envelope before we got to jungle. Skipped malaria in S. America and Asia, but not something to skip in Africa.
You had pretty generalized symptoms that could be lots of things, I'm glad you're feeling a bit better but you really should see a doctor they can diagnose (or eliminate as possibilities) a lot just from blood work even if you've already recovered from the harsher symptoms.
Who pays any kind of attention to old diseases like typhoid? It's like ringing the alarm bells for the medieval bubonic plague...)
Plague is still out there, FYI. And it's in the USA as well. Several people are diagnosed with it every year right here in the US: https://www.cdc.gov/plague/maps/
"Old" diseases are almost never actually extinct; instead they are just held in check by modern sanitation and medical practices. Get lax, and they come back at full strength.
The CDC Travel Health website is something everyone should check when they plan an international vacation: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel. Knowing what preventative medications and immunizations you need for your destination is just as important as knowing what the visa requirements are!
It makes me no nevermind. I haven't been so sick in 40 years or maybe even my entire life, as I was in Ecuador last month.
Who pays any kind of attention to old diseases like typhoid? It's like ringing the alarm bells for the medieval bubonic plague, I had no idea typhoid even existed anymore.
Like I said, I put up the post as a Public Service Warning. Typhoid does still exist and it can be had in nicest places of south America. Next time I go to a tropical country you can bet your bottom dollar that I'm getting a typhoid shot.
Truly, who even thinks of olde tyme diseases like typhoid? Not me. (lesson learned)
OK. Typhoid isn't just an old time disease, it's very current. It exists, still. I'm happy you posted an Public Service Warning. The Vaccine is "suggested" for travel to South America as well as other developing areas. Perhaps it might be a good idea for those traveling to other continents to visit a doctor who specializes in travel medicine. When I traveled to SA (Brazil) I didn't have the option of looking things up on the internet. For the record, the Plague still exists.
Adding, yes Hepatitis is a virus, some forms are easier to contract than others. Hep A for instance can be foodborne. Hep B and C are typically blood and sexually contracted.
When my kid went to SA a few years ago, we went to one of those medical facilities that give all of the recommended immunizations and I do believe that Typhoid was one of them. During the second trip a year later to another country, the poor kid got Dengue fever. There's nothing that could have been done beforehand for that. Contracted it in a "resort" area.
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Typhoid isn't just an old time disease, it's very current. It exists, still. I'm happy you posted an Public Service Warning. The Vaccine is "suggested" for travel to South America as well as other developing areas. Perhaps it might be a good idea for those traveling to other continents to visit a doctor who specializes in travel medicine. When I traveled to SA (Brazil) I didn't have the option of looking things up on the internet. For the record, the Plague still exists.
