Table of Contents
Vaccines for Arboviruses
A vaccine (Ixiaro) is currently available for adults traveling for a month or longer to Asian regions where Japanese encephalitis is endemic. (An older vaccine, JE-VAX, is no longer manufactured, but limited quantities are available for vaccinating children.) Countries and regions with high rates of Japanese encephalitis include Viet Nam, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), southern India, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia, Korea, northern Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines.
Another type of vaccine (FSME-IMMUN) is used to prevent tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in travelers visiting regions where this type of encephalitis is prevalent. TBE is found mainly in Eastern and Central Europe. This vaccine is available in Canada and many European countries, but it is not yet approved in the United States.
Several types of vaccines are under investigation for West Nile virus, but it will be several years before these vaccines could become commercially available.
Rabies Vaccine and Immune Globulin
Anyone exposed to the secretions of an animal suspected of having rabies, should be evaluated for post-exposure rabies vaccine. Exposed individuals may also receive immune globulin unless they were previously vaccinated. The regimen is one shot of immune globulin and four shots of rabies vaccine given over a period of two weeks. The new types of rabies vaccines cause much less discomfort and adverse effects than the older ones. Side effects may include mild reactions such as pain, redness, or swelling at the injection site. Patients may experience pain at the injection site and low-grade fever following the immune globulin shot.
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Review Date: 01/26/2011
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine,
Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M.,
Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
