Rabies is usually fatal if you have not been vacinated against it beforehand, but the vacine only buys you time, you still need treatment. Yellow fever, officially you do need the card, (its an UN body that issues it) You can be asked at borders if you have it, and if you dont you can be denied entry. But saying that I am just finished my trip now, and was never asked for it.

But my advice is this, when it comes down to a shot of £150, do you really want to risk your life or your health over it.. I am sure that if you were laying in the morgue or intensive care you will be saying why didnt i pay for the ****ing shot. I have the same opinion about cheap helmets!

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Tomorow I get my first rabies shot. A week later, my second. I'll have to get shot#3 in Panama or Colombia.

If I'm bitten by a dog, or anything else, I'll still need to get a couple of anti-rabies shots, but it's not as urgent of a problem. The travel-nurse says that if a person who has not been vaccinated gets bitten, then they need to get the rabies shots ASAP, meaning that it's a fly-home-for-treatment kind of problem. With the vaccine already administered, you can last a couple of days before you absolutely must get the first shot.

In Central America you're not usually more than a day away from a large city, but South America is a lot bigger. "Remote" is redefined, as I look at it on the map. Add the usualy delays, and I bet I'd be lucky to get a rabies shot within two days.

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Latin America Ride Report
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Ted, majority trained in medicine and practicing medicine will tell you to get just about any "jab" available, part of the reason is, if God forbid, you do get yellow fever, rabies or whatever, they might be held responsible if they had advised otherwise.

I have lived for 12 years in Mexico, Central America and South America. I have traveled by every conceivable mode of transportation, I lived without electricity and running water for 2 of the 12 years in an area with little or no public health services, pleanty of yellow fever and accordiong to reports pleanty of rabies.... I have bush camped for more nights then I care to remember. I have been in fights and in love many times while south of the border. Here is my opinion.

Paraguay has a yellow fever outbreak and as I just warned Jeff Condon, now near the infected area, the officials are spot checking foreigners (mostly Parguayans, but any foreigner will do) for their yellow fever certificate. Get the yellow fever shot, if for no other reason as if you don't have it you may be denied entry when traveling from an infected area to the next country.

I had full series rabies shots, as preventative medicine.. You get them in the belly over about 6 weeks, one a week as I remember, they hurt like hell. I have seen only one rabid animal with full blown rabies, it was a bull in Costa Rica that kind just stood still, then charged around, not chasing anything in particular and in general disrupted the village until it was chased out into a fied and shot.

As a veteran rider, you know you will be chased by dogs, on average every 400 K or so, and about 2% to 5% will attempt to nip your boots. A few, very few even come close.

Therefore, I would not get the rabies series. unless you are going really "out there" with no fast way back.... Check Lonely Planet Book "Healthy Travel Central & South America" page 376 and other pages...for antibiotics you can carry with you for immediate treatment of an animal bite.

If you are bitten by any animal, optimally, the animal should be captured or killed, either way, it can be determined if the animal has rabies or not. Also, this will protect others from being bitten.

WASH WOUND WITH LOTS OF SOAP AND WATER FLOW WATER OVER WOUND APPLY ANTISEPTIC SOLUTION LIKE POVIDONE-IODINE DIRECTLY TO WOUND FOR ANY ANIMAL BITE THIS WILL HELP. see "Healthy Travel..."book for more on treatment.

Of course read the Lonely Planet "Healthy Travel...... so you will know the symptoms to look for and exactly how to treat yourself... If needed, remember, the local rabies injections, may be derived from non human tissue, and have devesdating side effects, so if you are bitten, pull out all the stops and get some imported human vaccine, available in most major cities . Have it sent by taxi/police etc... if necessary, or get yourself to a major city fast.

Only you can make the decisions regarding your preventative "jabs" hope sharing my experiences has helped.... xfiltrate.

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com

Mire, Goetz ha informaciones sobre el tiempo permitidad a dejar sus motos en mi "thread" How to Buy New/Used in Argentina" Le pedi a la gente esta informacion de parte suyo, hasce unos dias. Algunas ha respondididos.

Take a look at the last several posts, might be helpful to com directly with those who posted via private message. We are planning the next month or two, when will we see you?

Everything fine here. xfiltrate

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com

This was because you were actually bitten by an animal whose rabies status was unkown, right?

Your advice on wound washing is excellent. I'd just like to add that the iodine solution should be very dilute. Mix iodine with clean water so that the solution is just dirty-brown, otherwise the iodine will destroy otherwise healthy tissue. Wash for several minutes.

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Latin America Ride Report
Wisconsin to Alaska Ride Report

It could be different now, but in the sixties during training, which was also part of the selection process, all potential Peace Corps volunteers were given injections. The shots we all hated were the rabies "series" I remember the intense stinging pain to this day and becoming very sick. This was, "required" for all volunteers going to Costa Rica. No one contested the injections. It was a different time and a much different mentality, we all trusted the medical advice we were given.

Furthermore, about half our group never made it through training, by their own choice or perhaps because the training was so rigorous. During training, not taking your rabies shots would have been like saying Peace Corps is not for me. I took them.

I was never bitten by any animal during 2 years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Costa Rica or after. I did see one rabid bull as described in my previous post. I have seen many newspaper articles and public health warnings about rabies throughout Mexico, Central and South America. If it had been my preference I would have lived without taking the rabies shots. Anything that hurt that much just could not be good. If I ever do get bitten, I might change my mind.
Do you happen to know how long the rabies shots are good for?
xfiltrate

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com

Rabies is a nasty piece of work.

It is fatal, with an incubation period is very unpredicatable. Reasons for the vaccine: it might save your life. Reasons agaisnt: its expensive, it hurts, but what what tipped the scales for us was that it is no guarantee. If you are in the sticks and a day or more from a hospital for the obligatory post exposure treatment, you then find that the vaccine, which is more of an extended grace period (as I see it) is suddenly no longer any good.

My best advice would be preventative action: for starters be very weary of any animal that does not seem scared of you, or any animal behaving eratically (that goes for drivers too!! ).

I'#m not saying get the jab or don't but certainly don't rely on it as a get out of jail free card the way we do with typhoid and diptheria jabs, coz it ain't!

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