I went to the doctor today to have my shoulder looked at again. I fell three weeks ago and tried to wrench my left arm off - my shoulder hasn't been right since. I got a steroid shot in the bursa a few days after it happened, but it didn't completely take care of the problem. Anyway, the point of my visit today was to say it still hurts, isn't is strong as it should be, and I have to be ready to go to Bhutan in April - help! As he was writing me a prescription for physical therapy, I mentioned that I'd be back in sooner or later to talk with him about vaccinations for the trip.
I wrote previously about the vaccinations I thought I might need; I got a (mostly) confirmed list today: Hepatitis A and B, polio, typhoid, and maybe rabies. The Hepatitis B vaccination schedule takes four to six months, so hopefully I'll be able to get the third dose before I leave (I got the first one today). I'm mentioning this because of course I looked up Hepatitis B on the Center for Disease Control website when I got back to the office. The CDC recommends a Hepatitis B vaccination for anyone travelling to an area with a moderate or high prevalence of the disease. Alaska, alone in the U.S., has a moderate prevalence. Here's what the CDC website had to say about it:
Hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the Hepatitis B virus (HBV). It ranges in severity from a mild illness, lasting a few weeks (acute), to a serious long-term (chronic) illness that can lead to liver disease or liver cancer.
Transmission: Contact with infectious blood, semen, and other body fluids from having sex with an infected person, sharing contaminated needles to inject drugs, or from an infected mother to her newborn.
Vaccination:Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended for all infants, older children and adolescents who were not vaccinated previously, and adults at risk for HBV infection.
As I was talking with him, the doctor made the point that Hepatitis B is not screened for in donor blood and you never know when you might need a donation. It was his opinion that everyone should get the vaccination.
I just wanted to let you know so you'd have something else to think about when you couldn't sleep tonight.
