A Very Present Danger

This past Monday, the kids were excited to have the day off from school. Our reason for being "absent" was not so exciting but, none the less, they didn't have to do any school work! Instead of hitting the books, we took a trip to downtown Krasnoyarsk for each member of our family to receive an immunization. 

It may be surprising for some of you to know that we have a dangerous little critter living among us here in Siberia.

 It's this little guy.

The tick.

Although we don't have deer here in Siberia, we have lots and lots of ticks. Unfortunately, our area of Russia is a very prevalent area for ticks which carry tick-borne encephalitis or, TBE.

Here is a site which has important facts and includes a map that will show you which parts of Russia and Siberia are endemic areas. Our city of Krasnoyarsk falls right in the middle of the high risk area that stretches across Asia.

Since we live in a village which runs along a forest and our children are able to enjoy playing outside any time the weather permits, we wanted to do the best we could to protect them from the risks of such a serious illness. We also have a summer camp through the ministry of the Krasnoyarsk Baptist Church that our children can attend each summer. Even though the camp is held a bit later than the "peak" time for ticks, the site is still next to a forest and tall grassy areas. 

The camp site.

If you are bitten by a tick here, you must remove it very carefully and put it in a plastic bag.  You also must take the tick along with you to the nearest hospital in your area to turn the tick in for analysis where you should receive a shot of Immunoglobulin to prevent the risk of TBE infection. Often, there are so many cases of tick bites in one season that there is a shortage of the Immunoglobulin. Smaller, private insurance companies here even offer "tick insurance" which can be purchased  in order to assure that a person receives the immunoglobulin in the case that they suffer a tick bite. Recent articles even say that in many European countries which are considered endemic regions for TBE, Immunoglobulin is often not administered as a post-bite preventative measure since it has been found to actually have a negative effect on the course of the disease. So all things considered, the best preventative measure against tick-borne encephalitis possible is vaccination.

We had lived here for quite a few years before I found out about the availability of these vaccinations. Every year at camp time I prayed and prayed for safety and protection of my husband and oldest daughter as they spent a whole week away in the woods. Then, we moved out to the village and although I never saw one tick, I constantly prayed for our children as they played outside. A few years ago, our dog was out of her pen enjoying a summer day with the kids. While everyone was busy playing and working, she found a way to escape from our yard. We searched and searched for her and shed many tears fearing that she had run away. The next morning we were awakened by her barking for breakfast right outside our window. Over the next few days my husband and I pulled nine ticks off of her head and neck! I knew our children would not be running through the woods as our dog did that day, but it still confirmed to me that I needed to check further into finding vaccinations for our family. 

After doing much research into the brands of immunizations available here in Russia, I chose the one I considered the most effective while also considering any possible side effects of the vaccine. This is one of many times I am grateful for my Nursing degree!  

Here we are at the immunization clinic which is located inside the AIDS center building. The immunization we received on Monday was the third in the series, so we are not due for anymore shots until the year 2015 when we will receive one booster vaccine.

Our boys having their temperatures checked the old-fashioned way to be sure they are healthy enough to receive their immunizations.

There are many people who file in and out of this building each day since anyone who is receiving temporary or long term residency permits must come to this building to be tested for AIDS. It is also one of the best places to go to receive immunizations of the highest quality. They only administer vaccinations to paying patients. No free immunizations are given here. For our family, this is the only place we have ever received immunizations in Russia and this particular vaccine is the only vaccine I have allowed anyone to give our children in Russia.  All of their regular childhood immunizations are given in the US.
My husband had to get a tetanus shot here in Russia and even though he went to this clinic, they gave it to him in under his shoulder blade of all places! It swelled up larger than any vaccine site I have ever seen!  That was enough to make me do my best while on our last furlough to get my tetanus shot before I got on the plane!

Just after we had been to the clinic to receive our second vaccine in the series against TBE, our kids had been outside playing in our field and yard. As they came in to eat lunch, our youngest, Timothy said, "Look Mom! Is this a spider crawling on my arm?" Then I hear the other two kids say, "No, that is not a spider!" It was a tick. But, thankfully we were already safe with having at least received the second vaccine!
It is a blessing and a great peace to this missionary momma's heart to be able to get such vaccinations for our children so they may freely enjoy the warm weather, while we have it, in the middle of Siberia!