tickborne encephalitis

[Five Horizons]

Hi,
I'm headed out for 3 months backpacking and then 10 months working abroad in europe very soon and have been told about getting vaccinated for tickborne encephalitis. Apparently a lot of ticks mainly in central europe can give you this and because i will be camping, I am told i should get it. Now there are just couple of problems.

1. you can't get the vaccine in the USA (which is where I live)
2. It takes 3 shots that I can only get in Europe.
3. you have to wait 4-12 weeks after the first shot to get the next shot and 9 months before I can get the 3rd shot.

In short, I would be safe from it only after my trip ends

So I guess I just want to know if I have my information wrong and if people living over there are generally vaccinated for it.

I'm not really too worried about it but encephalitis is the swelling of the brain and that just doesn't sound fun.

[omisan]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it... yes, tickborne encephalitis is out there. 'Course, here at home you can get Lyme Disease from ticks, yet no one gets vaccinated for it. It's just as bad, too

If you are wandering in areas with ticks, take a small jar of Vaseline with you. If you're bitten by a tick, smear the Vaseline all over the tick. It won't be able to breathe through the petroleum jelly, and it'll back itself out with as little damage as possible, leaving lower chances of infection & discomfort.

[tumblezweedz]

Before we moved to Lithuania, we looked into the tick-enceph. vaccines, particularly for our kids. They weren't available in the US, so we checked again when we got there, and basically, weighing the pros and cons, decided against. We now live in Germany, where there's apparently also a problem, but again, haven't bothered with the vaccine, and we live in a very rural, forested area. The advice we got from the doctors in the US and Lithuania was that if you get bitten, and then start to develop symptoms, just to mention it to your doc so they are aware it might be a problem, and can treat you if you seem to be developing the illness.

As you say, you won't be immune til after your visit, so it's a complete waste in your case.