In the past you would go to the doctor, tell him where you were heading, roll your sleeve up, feel the prick of cold steel penetrate your upper arm, grin, bear it, and be on your way. A two-year “get out of typhoid free” pass secured in your psyche.

Well, they say no vaccination is 100% full proof but it’s the best you can do.

The next day your arm would be red and kind of aching with soreness. You felt as if someone had crept in and pummeled you during the night. For the rest of the day you would protect that arm, fending off anything that came even remotely close. It was a good soreness though, and you knew it would be over in 24 hours from which time, typhoid beware!

My recent trip to the UCSF Travel Clinic bore little resemblance to prior travel clinic visits. My sleeve remained unrolled; no needles, no surge of disease flowing through my veins; all I got was a prescription and an instruction booklet on how to pop an eight-day regimen of pills.

Typhoid vaccination comes in four capsules. To be taken every other day on an empty stomach. Once through, you have five years of protection.

On the evening of day one I was feeling fine even though tired; so went to bed. The morning of day two crashed upon me. I awoke with a Continue reading Typhoid Fever Protection →