Ruby Grimshaw goes off to the deepest jungle

I am going to Indonesia in June with my friend L, to visit the orangutans in the jungle. I felt I should get an update on my immunity, so I made an appointment with my doctor’s surgery. My delight at discovering I only needed a typhoid booster was short-lived.

“You will need two injections for Japanese encephalitis. Protection against rabies is also absolutely essential – that means three jabs.” The nurse nodded with satisfaction and turned to her computer. “Now, let’s see what it says about malaria!” As the map rolled off her printer she smiled and pointed with what seemed to me to be unnecessary enthusiasm at the red area. “As I thought. Kalimantan is a high risk area for malaria.”

So I made an appointment with a Travel Clinic and have started my immunisation programme. On my first visit I received a lecture on the dangers of mosquito bites. Apart from malaria they can cause Chikungunya fever, a nasty illness, not to be confused with West Nile fever or dengue fever, all of which include severe joint and head pains, fever, chills, rashes and photophobia. (Does it matter to know which one you get? I expect they are all treated the same.) I was also warned about bird flu which is still prevalent and that I must continually use an antibiotic hand wash and keep away from anyone with any of the above symptoms. Therefore prevention of mozzie bites is essential. I have bought two lots of stuff – one for my face and the other for the rest of my bod.

At this point I felt like ringing up friend L and asking if we could just visit Monkey World loads of times this year instead of going to Borneo. For the price of all the injections we could have a two week package holiday in Spain.

“Kalimantan is a high risk area for malaria”

Yesterday I had a call from the nurse at my doctor’s surgery. My first thought was that she had found out yellow fever protection was a must, but it was to say that to be on the safe side I should have a measles jab. It was mainly for children, but you never know… I think she wanted to say “also the elderly”.

My one consolation is that Daughter C has given me a large pack of malaria tablets, which are in-date and of the correct sort, thus saving me about 40 quid. So how could I be cross that she had travelled through Cambodia last year and forgotten to pack her malaria protection.