Cholera

Cholera is a bacterial infection of the gut caught from water or food contaminated with sewage. It causes profuse watery diarrhoea that can dehydrate a person dangerously within hours. It is endemic across much of Africa, South and South East Asia and parts of Central and South America, and flares wherever sanitation breaks down — after floods, in refugee camps and in conflict zones.

Who needs it

For most travellers the risk is very low and the vaccine is not needed; careful food and water hygiene is enough. It is recommended for people whose work or circumstances put them in the way of it:

• Aid, relief and healthcare workers going to an outbreak or a disaster area.
• Travellers to remote areas with limited access to safe water and medical care.
• Anyone with a condition that makes severe diarrhoea more dangerous for them.

The vaccine

Dukoral is a drink, not an injection. Adults and children over six take two doses between one and six weeks apart, finishing at least a week before travel; children aged two to six take three. Protection lasts two years (six months for the younger group), after which a single dose tops it up. If more than the allowed gap passes between doses the course has to start again, so the timing is worth getting right. Dukoral also gives some short-term protection against the commonest cause of traveller’s diarrhoea.

Not sure whether you need this one? Book the travel consultation instead and the pharmacist will go through your trip with you.