In a recent Wall Street Journal post, Avoiding Illness on the Road, Dr. Phyllis Kozarsky, a travel health expert for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), offered some good advice for travelers, particularly business travelers.
In this piece Dr. Kozrsky correctly to advises those who are travelling overseas to get immunized, even if coincident with departure. However, nascent travelers should be aware that protection is not immediate. In the case of the hepatitis A and B vaccines, for instance, full immunity cannot be guaranteed for everyone who receives the vaccine for at least one month. Long lasting immunity requires a second vaccination anywhere from one month to one year after the first.
According to the CDC, the only vaccine that is required by international health regulations is yellow fever for those travelling to sub-Saharan Africa and tropical South America. The CDC recommends that this vaccine be obtained at least ten days prior to arriving in an area where yellow fever is endemic. In addition, the vaccine must be administered at an approved center that can provide the vaccinee an authentic “International Certificate of Vaccination”. The yellow fever vaccine must be repeated at ten year intervals to remain effective.
Meningitis vaccinations are required in for those travelling to the “meningitis belt” across the middle of the African continent and parts of Saudi Arabia. The vaccine provides protective antibodies after a week to ten days, with immunization lasting only three to five years. There are vaccines for encephalitis, an infection of the brain, which must also be administered at least a week or two before travel in order to be protective.
Those travelling abroad should consult with an infectious disease or travel medicine specialist at least one month prior to trip departure to insure adequate protection against infectious diseases. Destination specific vaccination requirements can also be found on mPassport.com.
Packing for a trip used to be easy. I would wake up the morning of the trip, grab a suitcase, throw in more clothes than I needed, dump all of the things on my bathroom sink into my Dopp kit*, sign a stack of traveler’s checks and, of course, write all of their serial numbers in that small, separate booklet just in case and last, but not least, make sure I had my itinerary or at least a semblance of one.
Travelers to the so called “meningitis belt” MUST be immunized. Fortunately, the two commercial vaccines available in the United States (MPSV4 or Menomune and MCV4 or MenactraT) provide protection against the most common types of infection. Students who are immunized against meningitis in preparation for dormitory living in the U.S. typically receive these vaccines, but they should check with their physician to make sure they are protected. Those traveling through or living in the meningitis belt should adopt strategies for avoiding the illness such as staying away from large gatherings, refraining from sharing drinking and eating utensils, and seeking medical attention at the first sign of a headache, fever, stiff neck, or purplish rash. 
