thanks 4 all your help

[den666]

thanks again ppl im very greatfull

i was wondering what hau hin is like at christams and new year , im leaving on the 22 december and initially coming back on the 4 january unless i decide 2 stay (popping accross the border sounds a good idea and easy enough to prolong my stay) my aunt is thai so sorting things like that out shouldnt be to hard (i would be talking 2 her but the time diff and crap internet connection speeds r poor) so i need your and your site 2 prepare me for what i hope is a really good time. do i need any jabs 4 raybies with all the stray dogs that r there (i hate dogs they sence the fear in me anyway thank you 4 all your help

den666

[lomuamart]

Unless you intend getting bitten by a dog, monkey or bat, I wouldn't worry about rabies jabs. However, it is a real risk so just stay away from the critters.
Xmas in HH? Busy and hotter than farangland.

[Jaime]

Of course, nobody intends to get bitten by a rabid animal but as someone who went through the post-exposure course of treatment a couple of years ago (after being bitten by a lunatic cat in Khampaeng Phet province) I can thoroughly recommend having the course of three simple pre-exposure jabs if it will give you peace of mind. You need to get them organised soon if you are going in December as they have to be administered within a certain time of each other but are small, relatively painless jabs in the upper arm. Compare this to the 8 painful injections (first two are BIG) I had over the course of a couple of months after the event and the total mental torture of waiting for the 99% fatal (the other 1% survivors suffer massive brain damage) rabies to manifest itself. Every twitch makes you think it is starting and I almost worried myself into an early grave until the incubation period was over because the end is gruesome and unstoppable. Makes me sweat just thinking back on it!

[lomuamart]

I thought that now the injections were in the arm and there weren't so many? A friend had them here after getting bitten by a rat.
Definitely not some thing to look forward to. You were lucky, Jaime.

[Guess]

Agree with Jaime. Prevention is better than cure.

I have never seen any rabid rats, bats or dogs in this region. A rabid dog is easy to indentify and will probably be put out of action long before it gets to you.

However in Hua Hin there has been a recent large influx of Chelsea, West Ham and Spurs fans who bahave as though they have rabies.

[Jaime]

Hi Lomuamart,

The first two post-exposure injections are supposed to go into the wound, whilst the rest, as you say are deep muscle injections into the arm or leg, rather than the old course of injections into the stomach. Obviously they work in a different, more immediate way than the pre-exposure course and I had some bad side effects. Perhaps if your friend had fewer post-exposure injections it is because he had already had the pre-exposure course, which I think still necessitates a single booster jab after a bite.

I was indeed lucky because it turned out later that the cat, a farm cat belonging to my mother in law, had already been vaccinated against rabies and as far as I know is still going strong! Jaime

[lomuamart]

Thinking back, I reckon my friend got 5-6 jabs. Can't really remember, but I saw his hospital appointment book.
In '81, I travelled around India for 3 months. When in Bangalore, I was bitten by someone's pet dog. The owner assured me it had had it's jabs and I thought no more about it until I was having lunch with my parents 6 weeks or so later in the UK.
I related the story as "just another thing that happened". A day or so later, the phone rang and I answered it as everyone was out. It was the family doctor. He told me that I had 24 hours to confirm whether the dog was still alive, or dead. If it was dead, or I couldn't confirm then I had to undergo rabies jabs. No amount of protestations about my wellbeing were heeded. I was left in no doubt that I had no choice in the matter.
Anyway, the folks returned, I was running around like a headless chicken and my father told me to call my Aunt in Bangalore. It was just before Xmas, no direct line there in those days and all lines through the operator booked for 4 days ahead.
More running around like a headless chicken. Called the operator again and explained the situation - she thought I was saying that I had rabies!! Eventually, got put through on a diplomatic line. My Aunt had seen the dog a few days ago and that satisfied the authorities. Apparantly an animal will not live longer than a few weeks if it's infected, so it didn't have the disease when it bit me.
All in all, a fraught few hours. Matters hadn't been helped by the fact that two women, visiting India seperately before I went, had returned to the UK complaining of flu like symptoms. One got aspirin etc and died, the other got the jabs and survived. They both had rabies.
It's definitely not a laughing matter.
I only froth at the mouth after 15 large bottles of Chang now, but I still don't understand why I only have one shower a year and can't drink water

[Guess]

I only froth at the mouth after 15 large bottles of Chang now

So Lomu that means only days that end in a y. Most ex-pats in Hua Hin have commented on the lack of showering.

[Guess]

thanks again ppl im very greatfull

(popping accross the border sounds a good idea and easy enough to prolong my stay)

den666

Sorry to disillusion old chap but, after studying maps of the world for most of today, I have found that there is no border crossin between Wales and Thailand.