I’m off to Lesotho with No 2. Son next February and it has been deemed that I should be inoculated against rabies.

Advice from FCO and NHS seems uncertain re: necessity for this.

Problem 1: It’s a school trip, I’m leading staff. School is skint, so participants need to fund everything. Participants include staff.

Problem 2: No2 son is coming with us. (He’s 15 and has visited before, without rabies protection). He is an integral part of the exchange, acting as a link between the students on either side.

Problem 3: There is no UK approved rabies vaccine available at the moment.

Problem 4: What is available (WHO approved, but not in UK though) is blummin expensive- £150:00. It seems to get ? just 24 hrs additional protection? before having to be in a hospital should the worst happen.

Plus: We’re staying/ visiting within 1 hours drive of the local district hospital.

Plus: Our accommodation is within walking distance of the hospital, approx. 10 mins away. Less if we drive. Vehicles are not always available however.

Plus: In all previous visits I’ve only seen two dogs. Neither were aggressive, but were avoided anyhow.

Plus: Visiting adults have not previously been required to be inoculated, just advised to have it done.

I suppose it all boils down to money. All in all team Ambrose will be forking out approx. £3,000 for the trip. It is partially funded from work (My school) covering 1/3 my costs. I’m content to fund all No2 son’s costs but obviously wish to minimise them, without putting him/ me/ trip in jeopardy.

Any advice?

I’m after informed advice here, ta 🙂

I can see what your problem is.

I’m after informed advice here

You know, call me odd but I would be tempted to speak to a health professional ie your GP

Perhaps Friday night is the wrong time to seek advice!

OK Sounds like a good start to a risk assessment.

Questions to add
What is the Hospital setup for? Can they handle Rabies issues.
What Does your travel insurance say – ask specifically.

If the Hospital is setup for Rabies AND the travel insurance will cover you without the Vaccine/protection then I would be inclined to go that way.

I’d set all that out for the parents in a balanced way – well done for a non sensational post 🙂
Lay out facts and if they decide not to they must confirm that they understand the issues and having checked their travel insurance.

Worst case really is Complications in foreign hospital on insurance saying Not Covered book your own Medical Transport Home.

Good luck sounds great (after I googled where you were going)

Perhaps Friday night is the wrong time to seek advice!

The time and date have nothing to do with the quality of advice; it’s the location!

Staying here: -30.404786,27.693272 You may need to paste this into GoogleMaps to find it. Hospital is the red/ brown rectilinear construction pretty much due east of the central point.

FWIW, the place is called Moyeni High School, Moyeni, Quithing, Lesotho.

The red and blue roofed buildings are not the hospital, they are the ‘Orphan’s Home’ mostly housing the children of AIDS victims. There is a 24% HIV infection rate AFAIK. The hospital is further east.

With all that hassle I wouldn’t bother going!

Wot mikewsmith said – find out what the local hospital can offer
A decentish read on the subject[quote]Risk Category

Travellers to rabies
enzootic areas
?
especially if postexposure
medical care
and
rabies biologics
at
the destination are
lacking
or in short
supply
?
or they are
undertaking higher
risk activities such as
cycling ( 😯 ) or running
or they are living or
staying for more than
one month[/quote]

The rewards will be stupendous. It will eventually lead to a self-funded (heaven knows how, I’ll make it happen!) student exchange involving participants here in Carmarthenshire and in Quithing in Lesotho.

There are proper dinosaur footprints in Moyeni. Translated into English, dinosaur = khodomodmo, pronounced kHod-oo-mod-oo-mow.

Imagine taking a dozen 15 year old pupils right out of their comfort zone, to meet their compatriots so they can all arrange a reciprocal visit. It might be amazing.

@scardeypants

Many thanks indeed, can you qualify what you mean by ‘decentish’ please?

I was under the impression that rabies vaccinations were only recommended IF you were working with/likely to be in close proximity to animals. Given I was working directly with animals – including bats – in Amazonia I had it (not a particularly nice vaccine to have, and yes it only gives you a little more time before hospital. Though it does make the treatment a little less toe curling too from what I was told).

I think it is going to very much depend on what you are going to be doing out there, and if you aren’t going to be handling wild animals then don’t bother with the injection and take sensible precautions.

But probably best to get some up-to-date advice since my experience is many, many years ago now!

Cheers Capt. K

I struggle with long sentences, but we had the rabies vaccines via the Superdrug travel clinic before we went round SE Asia. The way it was described was:
It won’t stop you getting rabies but it’ll give you a 24 hour window to get seen to rather than the 1 hour window if you don’t have the vaccine. Assuming the hospital within 1 hour has the required drugs. It was worth the cash purely for the peace of mind.

Bonus: the cash we spent on the vaccines got points on the wife’s Superdrug card and paid for all our suncream/water purification tablets/antihistamines/diarrhoea tablets.

don’t hang round with dodgy dogs 😉

can you qualify what you mean by ‘decentish’ please?

Wasn’t slagging it off, just suggesting that “local” information might be of more practical help