Travel health

It is a good idea to consult a travel health specialist two to three before your departure, whether you are staying for a short time or travelling to a luxury hotel.

Here are the most common vaccines:

Tetanus : Infectious disease caused by clostridium tetani bacteria that attacks the nerves. It enters the body through a soiled wound. Tetanus has no borders and occurs worldwide. It can be prevented through proper wound care and getting vaccinated every 10 years.

Typhoid : Infection caused by salmonella bacteria. It is contracted by ingesting contaminated water and/or food, or through fecal-oral transmission.

Hepatitis A: Hepatitis A is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus.This contagious infection is contracted by ingesting contaminated food or water, being in contact with an infectious person, or simply by being a carrier of the virus.

It is present worldwide but mainly in areas where hygiene is poor. Vaccination and good hygiene are the only ways to protect yourself.

Hepatitis B: Infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis B virus. The virus is transmitted through blood, unprotected sex, and sometimes saliva. As a preventive measure, avoid unprotected sex, tattoos, piercings, medical care with non-sterile equipment, and get vaccinated.

Like its cousin, hepatitis A, hepatitis B is a worldwide epidemic, particularly affecting Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Amazon Basin, South and West Pacific Islands and West, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.

Flu vaccine

Vaccination remains the most effective way to protect yourself against seasonal influenza, for anyone over 6 months old. The flu vaccine can prevent influenza in roughly 70 to 90% of healthy children and adults. We recommend that you get vaccinated every year because the influenza strains change from year to year. It takes roughly two weeks from its administration for the vaccine to provide complete protection, and lasts approximately 6 months.

HPV VACCINE

HPV is spread through skin-to-skin contact during sexual relations, including vaginal, anal, and oral sex. Many different types of HPV exist, some of which can cause cancer and other skin lesions known as genital warts. In addition to causing 70% of cervical cancers, HPV is responsible for vaginal, vulvar, and anal cancers. HPV can also lead to certain respiratory diseases as well as throat and oral cavity cancers. Among those with HPV, only a minor portion will develop cancer because there are several types of HPV. Anogenital warts (condyloma) are a sign of infection and may appear in a woman’s thigh region, vagina, rectum, urethra or cervix. For men, lesions may appear on the thighs, penis, scrotum, anus, or in the urethra.

Screening:
It is important for women to undergo regular cytology screening (Pap tests) for early detection of lesions that may lead to cervical cancer.
Men should seek medical attention if they notice unusual lesions on the thigh region, penis, scrotum, anus, or in the urethra.

Prevention:
In some regions of Quebec, the vaccine is offered for free in schools to 4th grade elementary school girls.

Shingles vaccine

Those within the 50 to 59-year age group may also get the vaccine after consulting a health professional. Remember that signs and symptoms can reappear in a person who has already developed shingles, which is why we recommend the vaccine.

Moreover, remember that even if you are vaccinated against the chickenpox, or have developed this infection previously, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux recommends vaccination for better protection against herpes zoster and its complications.

Symptoms and prevention

Symptoms are often preceded by warning signs, such as excessive sensitivity, localized numbness, and itching. The rash produces painful, liquid-filled vesicles, causing a burning and stinging sensation.

Before lesions appear, the rash causes itching and, in some cases, severe pain. The rash usually lasts about seven to 10 days, disappearing completely after about a month. However, pain may persist for up to three months or even longer in rare cases. In most cases, a single shingles outbreak will occur, but some people have repeated flares. Symptoms are more intense and the rash more severe among those with a weakened immune system. For these people, lesions take longer to heal and will sometimes scar. The virus may also spread to other organs, in some cases.

One of the major complications of shingles is post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), characterized by severe pain along the path of the affected nerves, where the herpes zoster virus is located. The virus can cause blindness when it affects the optic nerve and is not treated.

With outbreaks most often triggered when the immune system weakens (aging, medication, mononucleosis, stress, cancer, disease, etc.), the virus reactivates in one or more nerve ganglia, and from there, the virus travels through the nerve fibers to the skin, causing a rash similar to that of the chickenpox.

The microscopic lesions of the skin are identical to those of the chickenpox (presence of multinucleated giant cells with mononuclear infiltration). As diagnosing the infection is usually easy, a histological analysis is generally not necessary.