Measles kills 400 children in the world every day. It is
very contagious and travels easily from one continent to another. But, there is
something you can do to protect you and your family – get vaccinated.
If you are traveling overseas, make sure that you and your
children are up-to-date on your measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (called
MMR). Children as young as 6 months old should receive the MMR vaccine.
Polio is another infectious disease that has been spreading
through travelers. Polio is a disease that can cause paralysis (cannot move a
leg or arm) and sometimes meningitis (an infection in the brain and spinal
cord). If the paralysis spreads it can cause a person to stop breathing.
The increase in the number of cases of polio has concerned
health officials at the World Health Organization. They recommend that people
who spend more than four weeks in a country where polio is found be vaccinated
before they travel. People who are traveling to countries where polio is found
should make sure to talk to their clinic about whether they need a booster and
if their children have all the doses they need for travel.
It can be easy to think that these diseases won’t affect you
and your family. One Minnesota mother found out how dangerous these diseases
can be while traveling. Before traveling, the doctor recommended that her son
get his MMR vaccine earlier than usual because they were traveling to visit
family in Kenya. She meant for her son to get the vaccine, but he was finally
sleeping. She decided it could wait until they came back. They were just going
to visit family which didn’t seem like a big risk.
The day they returned home, her son developed cold symptoms
– a cough, runny nose, and watery, red eyes. Then he got a fever and became
very tired. She took him to the doctor, and they said it was a virus and to watch
him closely. The cough got worse and the fever got higher so she took him to
the doctor again. This time they put him in the hospital because he had
pneumonia. The doctors did more tests and put him in a private room – he had
measles.
It was hard for her child to breathe so they put him on a
breathing machine. There were tubes in his mouth, nose, and arms. She felt
helpless. The doctors warned that her son might die. For three weeks she
watched a machine breath for her son.
The little boy survived, but his mother will never forget
his suffering. The disease also spread
to other people on the airplane and among family members that were not
vaccinated. She tells anyone traveling overseas, “Be sure to get all the
vaccines you or your family needs.”
To keep your travels healthy, talk to your clinic or doctor about
your trip, the shots you need and ways to stay healthy while traveling.