This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi there - first time posting, but i check in almost every day to read the fantastic posts. . many thanks for all the information.

here is my question. dx with MS 03 - currently on copaxone .. symptoms are mild at the current time. My question is this: I am traveling to brazil in december and i will be spending some time in the amazon - the center for disease control suggests that i get a yellow fever immunization. my neuro said that it is better to get the vaccine than to get yellow fever . .its not that i don't trust my neuro, just sometimes i feel like she is quoting things from medical journals to me - just want some thoughts on the whole thing. .another cause for trepidation in me is that i got a hep B vaccination and i think that may have been one of the triggers for my ms.

oh well.

Hi Lizzy,

Welcome!

I can't help responding to this one. Yes, you are really in a bind! But, I think both you AND your neuro are right. The vaccine could trigger it, but so could the Yellow Fever, if you contracted it. The latter might be worse, IMO. An MS relapse + the full blown illness?!

But, the vaccine reactions that some have experienced really are quite bad, too!

You most likely have already seen these, but here's a CDC link:

http://www.cdc.gov/MMWR/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5117a1.htm

I went thru a similiar dilemma, myself, three years ago. My husband (a soldier) was deployed to the Horn of Africa. I had just been diagnosed a few weeks after he had left. A few months, later, he told me I could come there to vacation with him. Yellow Fever, Malaria land...I decided to pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, exactly because of such vaccination issues.

Whatever decision you make, I certainly wish you the best!!!

Minai

Yellow Fever.

A very frightening thing. Here's a link from the CDC for travellers:
http://www2.ncid.cdc.gov/travel/yb/util ... wfever.htm

Also, to put a historical point to it... throughout the world Yellow Fever would sometime run rampant. A recent book covers the time when New Orleans was ravaged:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/188736 ... 17?ie=UTF8

I'm happy to know that there's a vaccine available for it!!

Good luck and have a wonderful trip!!

-- Niko

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"Avoid making irrevocable decisions when tired or hungry." -- Robert Heinlein

Hi there. I have SPMS but my symptoms are mild too. I can't comment on the medical impact of the YF vaccination other than with regard to my own experience. I had the YF jab before my first trip to Africa and had no adverse reaction. I believe that the YF jab is in fact compulsory for some countries so unless you opt for it you won't be allowed entry. Having said that my immunisation record was never checked in any of the 4 countries I visited but there is that risk.
A difficult choice, I know. All the best.
Muu

i had a travel vaccine two weeks before my first attack too so i can understand your trepidation - but i'm sorry i don't know anything about the yellow fever. certainly my travel vaccine (hepA) was from the picorna family of viruses that as far as i recall are potentially implicated in ms. here's some stuff i found

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/Sourcebook-vaccinations.asp
The following vaccines have been evaluated in people with MS:

Influenza
Hepatitis B
Varicella
Diphtheria/Tetanus-Routine
Other vaccinations such as those for pneumonia, meningitis, typhoid, polio, yellow fever, and hepatitis A vaccination, do not have published studies addressing their safety in MS. Nevertheless, the clinical practice guideline recommends that people with MS who meet the CDC criteria for these vaccinations should be given them. CDC criteria can be viewed at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/guidelines/guidelines_topic_vaccination.htm.

which points you to a list from which you can pick this:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/rr/rr5117.pdf

and from what i can see, the section on altered immune status is relevant

Infection with yellow fever vaccine virus poses a theoretical
risk for encephalitis to 1) patients with acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (AIDS); 2) patients who are infected with
HIV and have other manifestations of HIV infection (32); 3)
patients with leukemia, lymphoma, generalized malignancy;
or 4) those whose immunologic responses are suppressed by
corticosteroids, alkylating drugs, antimetabolites, or radiation.
Such patients should not be vaccinated.

so, guess it depends what you're taking???

Sorry to re-post this, but i just had an appointment with my neuro and she admitted that she "doesn't know anything regarding the yellow-fever vaccination" - initially she told me to get it. I'm still on the fence - its NOT required for where i am going in Brazil, but suggested. Can anyone suggest anywhere besides these boards (and others like them) where i can find some concrete information regarding a yellow fever vaccination and MS? I know i know, concrete information and MS are 2 things that don't go hand and hand. .

The World Health Organization is the United Nations specialized agency for health. It was established on 7 April 1948. WHO's objective, as set out in its Constitution, is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. Health is defined in WHO's Constitution as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

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John was diagnosed Jan 2005. On lipitor 20mg .On Copaxone since July 4,2005. Vitamin D3 2000iu-4000iu (depending on sunshine months)June 10 2005(RX::Dr. O'Connor) Omega 3 as well Turmeric since April 2005. Q10 60mg. 1500mg liquid Glucosamine Nov 2005.