Hello everyone!
I am from the United States, and will be in China this summer, including some weeks in Yunnan. In addition to Kunming, I'd like to see Dali City, as well as some of the rice terraces.
I found some older topics on this, but the most recent one was about a year ago, so for some up-to-date information: do people here residing in Yunnan recommend the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine? Have there been any recent issues with cases / outbreaks?
Thanks!
- Harri
If there had been some dramatic outbreak of Japanese encephalitis I'm sure I'd have heard of it. I'm not vaccinated against it and I've been living in Kunming and traveling around the province for over 10 years - can't remember the subject ever coming up in conversation.
A American guy was med evacuated for this last year I heard. But I understand it did not come from Yunnan but probably further South. Sorry my info is vague.
@Harri. You don't need JE vac or any other vaccine for your itinerary in Yunnan. Hep vac is at your discretion depending how long your total China time is. You should get your DPT vac updated, but that's recommended for any type of travel.
Every year we can read about malaria outbreak in some border area. They change it every year, it used to be Laos-Thai and Thai-Cambodia border areas, and last two years it has been India-Burma border area. The scary news come once a year, and then they fade away like a morning fog in the desert.
Usually these news appear in BBC and such when those people involved need to get the yearly funding cash. Once it has been in BBC, they send their account numbers to a few institutions and book nice hotels, jeeps and drivers. Its good business.
I haven't been vaccinated against anything whatsoever in at least 25 years - Yunnan is basically healthy enough - new arrivals are bound to run into something or other, probably digestive, like in most places, but it's very unlikely to be serious.
For a newcomer, it seems that the mosquitoes dont bite the locals. Even locals tend to say that mosquitoes like foreigners.
Well, thats not the truth. The trick is actually to learn The Psychology of Mosquitoes. Once youve been around a while, you sort of realize that having sandals on while having an evening dinner at 7 PM usually make feet itch. And so on....
The mosquitoes have also learnt some modern tricks, e.g. to attack fingers behind the ipad, but just as with the feet, this is avoidable with a few tricks.
In a word, a lot can be avoided by understanding the psychology of mosquitoes.
Thanks for the tips everyone! Given the general expense of getting the Japanese Encephalitis vaccine, this is good to know. On that note, I am also planning on not getting the Rabies vaccine - do you also have a consensus on this?
Peter, perhaps you can share with me some of the psychology of the mosquitoes before my trip! haha.
@Harri. Not for your itinerary. If you were going to spend weeks out treking about rural Yunnan, then yes. There is a risk of dog bite, but you have to go off the beaten path.
Psychology is a big word. Basically mosquitoes, like almost any other insect, identify suitable preys via their scent. Recently it was discovered that lactic acid is one of the main attractions for mosquitoes, which is also why they like feet so much (ever heard that feet smell of cheese? lactic acid). Can't be bothered to find the source of that scientific research, but this page gives you an overview of mosquito 'psychology':
