Yellow fever question

[Thingybob]

Does anyone know if we are able to have the yellow fever immunisation ?I.have read that its not reccomended if you have RA , but is that only if its not well controlled ?

Thanks in advance :)😊

[bpeal1]

Take proper medical advice but I believe that the Yellow Fever vaccine is a live vaccine and therefore not recommended for anyone taking immunosuppressive medications.

[Thingybob in reply to bpeal1]

Thanks for your reply .....i guess its the same as any live vaccine

[AgedCrone]

No! Yellow Fever is a live vaccination & is not recommended to people with a compromised immune system.

But check with your GP…& don’t venture to a country where it is advised without it…. as you would quite likely be sent straight home!

[Thingybob in reply to AgedCrone]

Thanks, I guessed as much. No round the world cruise for me then !🤷‍♀️

[AgedCrone in reply to Thingybob]

There maybe some rule that you could transit a Yellow Fever area on a cruise if you didn’t disembark !

For the Legal but not health answers….ask whatever cruise company you were thinking of using…they will have all the rules down Pat!

[bpeal1 in reply to AgedCrone]

We looked into it briefly a couple of years ago as my daughter wanted to go on a school trip to Uganda. It is possible to get a medical exemption certificate for most countries requiring it. In the end my daughter decided not to do the trip so we didn’t investigate any further.

[AgedCrone in reply to bpeal1]

At least now the vaccination lasts for life…lin my day we had to have it every ten years,& it was the one jab most of us dreaded as it made you feel awful ……especially as the countries that demanded it were places nobody wanted to go to!

[bpeal1 in reply to AgedCrone]

My husband had it a few years ago as he needed it for travel with work and felt pretty rough with it.

[Thingybob in reply to bpeal1]

I think i might give it a miss afyer what ive read

[HappykindaGal in reply to AgedCrone]

No, but they’ll accept a non vaccination certificate

[AgedCrone in reply to HappykindaGal]

TBH at my advanced age I’m not volunteering for any more travel vaccinations….I’ll stick to destinations with no nasties!

[HappykindaGal in reply to AgedCrone]

It's when you start having to consider rabies and Japanese Encephalitis that it gets expensive for one thing and it's a series of vaccines too. No one wants to get rabies though. We've had the odd student here and there that said it was too expensive and trotted off to the Far East for 6 months and contracted or had contact with rabies. That's an expensive mistake as post-viral vaccines are incredibly expensive and there are several of them.

[AgedCrone in reply to HappykindaGal]

Well, I don’t know what nationality it was, but I spent three months in hospital many years ago (1960’s) with Viral Encephalitis - contracted in good old London Town ! Not to be recommended ! The laugh is…I spent a lot of time in Tokyo…& never even caught a Japanese cold!

[HappykindaGal in reply to AgedCrone]

That sounds awful!

[AgedCrone in reply to HappykindaGal]

In fact the only part I remember is being taken to the hospital by Ambulance…I was unconscious most of the time with my poor mother sitting beside the ventilator I was entombed in!

But hey..here I am 60 years later …just proves how good the nhs was back then!

[Thingybob in reply to AgedCrone]

Panama canal transit

[HappykindaGal in reply to Thingybob]

You can still do the round the world cruise. Don’t let not having a yf injection stop you. I imagine the cruise company is asking for it for Brazil or Trinidad and Tobago? I can’t think of any other yf countries a cruise would visit. See a travel health clinic and they’ll give you the best advice to protect you and provide a cert of non vaccination to cover you. Just go and have the trip of a lifetime

[Thingybob in reply to HappykindaGal]

I think ill investigate other trips tbh. Its the hubby who wants to go.down the panama lol

[HappykindaGal in reply to Thingybob]

Honestly, it will be fine. My company supports travel health clinics with their appointments and admin. so we're asked this question regularly. Lots of people get certs of non vaccination. You're unlikely to go to any of the danger areas which are in the main, sub-saharan and Brazilian interior.

[Maisie1958]

There’s also additional warnings if you are over 60 years of age having the yellow fever vaccine…apologies, I don't want to assume you are as ancient as me!😉I think they say the vaccine should last a lifetime now rather than 10 years that was quoted earlier? Have you received it before? I believe you can get exemption certificates but you would have to make sure you have failsafe mosquito bite avoidance and could possibly run into problems if you had to transfer to adjacent countries? You need to get up to date medical and legal advice as stated above. Hope you find a wonderful trip to take, all good wishes.

[AgedCrone in reply to Maisie1958]

I am surely Ancient…..but TBH…Who wants to go to……..Cameroon, Chad, Congo, DRC, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, and South Sudan…..all demand a YF vaccination….I have been to all of them & have no desire to pay a repeat visit.A few more - more pleasant countries require it..but thankfully my wanderlust has been well and truly satisfied …so as long as the sun shines…I’m happy to stay closer to home…& forego any jabs!

[Thingybob in reply to Maisie1958]

I am deff over 60 lol. Im guessing the 1958 is your birth yr ? Mine is the year after. 😉

[Folegandros]

A friend sent me a copy of a letter he got back from his rheumatologist in November 23 stating that the yellow fever vaccine can be given so long as methotrexate dosage is less than 25mg. Here is an excerpt from the letter. You may want to ask your GP or Rheumatology Team to check the green book.

.....the very recent national guidelines for vaccinations (green book chapter 6) indicates that live vaccine can be given to patients who have been on Methotrexate less than 25mgs.....

Hope this helps. I wouldn't want you thinking you can't do the trip you'd like to do! Fingers crossed.

[HappykindaGal]

You can get a certificate of non vaccination if you need a YF jab to access a country and can’t have the jab

[PFTT]

I was told I can’t have a live vaccine because of being immunosuppressed

[bienassis]

Hello Thingybob

If you are taking Methotrexate then you shouldn’t be taking live vaccines like those for malaria and yellow fever. I was told that many years ago. It may be that things have changed. Anyway, your doctor should be able to advise you.

Good luck!

[Happy5]

Comprehensive info from this site, scroll down explains about Yellow fever vaccine.

nras.org.uk/resource/immuni...

[veg_c2000]

You also need to bear in mind that if even if the next country you travel to doesn't have yellow fever (or need proof vaccination) if you've come from a country that does require the vaccination you may not be able to enter. For example you travel to Gambia (requires vaccination) and then travel onto Mauritania (does not need vaccination) - you will need proof of vaccination as you will have travelled from a country that is listed as a transmission risk.

[CagneysMum]

Hi.

I had yellow fever (live) vaccine to be able to travel safely through South America around 3-4 years ago.

I discussed it with my RA consultant and he was happy to give me his full support. He said it would be necessary to temporarily stop my methotrexate for 2 weeks beforehand and 2-3 weeks after (5weeks total) in order to allow the live vaccine to introduce itself to my system and for me to develop required yellow fever antibodies.

Obviously my concern was a relapse in my RA during a break from methotrexate as my RA was relatively well controlled but my consultant was on hand to prescribe steroid tablets and additional naproxen as a stop gap if required. I was able to continue taking my hydroxychloroquin throughout.

As it turns out I was fine for 3 weeks and only started to feel twinges as I entered the 4th week without methotrexate. So I decided to restart mtx at that 5th week point. A further blood test proved that the vaccination had been successful.

I’m happy I did this as I’m now covered for life and can travel safely without restriction on that particular concern. Obviously personal circumstances can vary you would need to discuss this with your own consultant who could have a different opinion.

[Thingybob in reply to CagneysMum]

Thank you for sharing . Thats really interesting. I will consult and weigh up the pros and risks