This past Tuesday, I had a two and a half hour consultation with a travel nurse in preparation for our upcoming trip. Even though I have lived in Sri Lanka and India without contracting major illness, her warnings of hep A, B and C, typhoid, malaria, cryptosporidiosis, dengue, filariasis, visceral leishmaniasi, Japanese encephalitis, leptospirosis, polio, measles and rabies convinced me that there is little chance I will make it through this time without picking up at least one major ailment. Of course, I also received a crash course on how to stay hydrated without having to resort to ciprofloxacin. Oh, the dreaded "Delhi belly".
After convincing me that washing your hands while singing one full verse of "happy birthday" is the only way to keep clear of vacation ending microbes, the nurse nonchalantly prepared two hypodermic needles, one filled with hep A vaccine and the other with the TDaP (tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccine, and swiftly plunged them into my arms. The result; two days later I can barely raise my right arm over my shoulder. Well, at least it's better than tetanus.
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