World Hepatitis Day, on July 28, has recently reminded us of the travel health risk that holidaymakers and businesspeople face from both hepatitis A and B. It should also encourage us to consider whether vaccination against these viruses is required.
The awareness day is one of 11 global health awareness days driven by the World Health Organization (WHO). This is an authority whose data is used within our Pinpoint Travel Health service, to provide the completely accurate and up-to-date information travellers require, with regard to their required travel vaccinations and antimalarial treatments, at any point in time.
Hepatitis is a major global health problem with major gaps in awareness and practice to address. It is a disease caused by a viral infection, or infection agents such as drugs, toxins or alcohol, which results in inflammation of the liver. Rare to find in the UK, it is common in some parts of the world, particularly Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Central and South America.
Hepatitis A vaccination is actually ‘recommended’ for many popular holiday or backpacking destinations, including South Africa, São Tomé and Principe, Cambodia, Vanuatu, Kenya, Tanzania, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela, Antigua and India. It is also something that some websites will suggest you ‘consider’ in equally popular destinations, such as Tunisia, Mexico, Mauritius and Fiji, as well as in backpacking destinations such as Chile.
Furthermore, Hepatitis B is a vaccination that you should also ‘consider’ in places like Cambodia, Thailand, Fiji, India, and Peru and which is ‘recommended’ for countries like Uruguay and Antigua.
The added cost of travel vaccinations
If you are travelling on a backpacking budget, the costs of immunisation can add to the cost of your trip quiet considerably, especially if the recommendation or advice to consider a vaccine goes beyond just hepatitis. A Hep A vaccine, on the high street, is likely to set you back about £62, whilst a hep B vaccine is around £49 per dose.
Equally, if travelling as a family, these costs can add significantly to your original travel expenditure.
The answer that anyone considering all of this is often left answering is, ‘Do I really need this?’
The requirement for Hep A and Hep B vaccinations
At a health level, there is no doubt that both Hepatitis A and B can leave you feeling very unwell. Hepatitis A usually results in an acute illness, which can improve with treatment, often over the course of 3-6 months. Hepatitis B can result in much longer-term health issues, such as liver damage, with a persistent infection remaining in the body.
For this reason, and to potentially also comply with the terms of a travel insurance policy, those travelling to countries where Hepatitis A or B, or both, is recommended, really should take that health advice and have the necessary vaccinations. Hepatitis A is usually delivered in two doses; an initial injection and a second dose 6-12 months after. Ideally, the first dose
should be administered two weeks before the traveller leaves the UK. Hepatitis B may require a course of three doses. There is also the possibility of combining the two vaccinations.
The two viruses are contracted in different ways. Hepatitis A often results through drinking unclean water or eating food handled by someone with the virus. Food may also have been washed in unclean water, or the virus may have been picked up having had very close physical contact with someone who carries the virus. Symptoms, including fever, flu-like symptoms, nausea, stomach pain, changes in stool colour and itchiness, often emerge about four weeks after infection.
Hepatitis B is spread through blood and body fluids, so often contracted through sexual activity, sharing needles, toothbrushes or razors, or after having had tattoos and piercings. Symptoms are a high temperature, tiredness, nausea, stomach pain and a yellowing of the skin.
What does ‘consider’ vaccination mean?
Having highlighted the dangers, however, a traveller may be confused as to whether they need a vaccination that they are told to ‘consider’. This is particularly true with regard to Hepatitis A, where personal actions are not typically the reasons for contracting the virus.
The problem with the majority of travel vaccination advice is that it is not precise enough. It focuses on health issues at a country level alone, without considering nuances, such as season of travel, or focusing on whether a traveller’s specific destination constitutes a risk.
It also often fails to consider the age of traveller, pre-existing health conditions and the activities they will be taking part in during their trip.
For this reason, if you wish to understand your Hepatitis A and B risk – and that presented by any other diseases that can be encountered around the world, the ideal way to achieve clarity and a precise assessment of what you – and each individual family or group member might require – comes through use of the Pinpoint Travel Health service.
By producing a tailored Travel Health Brief for each individual who is making the trip, you will have everything analysed solely on the basis of your precise location or locations of travel, and the health, age and intended activities of the individual for whom the brief is prepared. All of this costs just £15 (inc VAT) and could save you much more than that. If inoculations are not actually required, why pay for them and go to the trouble of taking time out to visit clinics?
To be responsible about Hepatitis A and B risk when you travel, take advantage of the Pinpoint Travel Health system today and put yourself in better control of your travel health risk and inoculation choices, by ordering a Travel Health Brief.