quiz #2!

Another quiz time...here are your hints

-This disease exists here in Peru (and in other South American/ African countries)

-Most people (80%) of the people who contract this disease have a mild “flu-like illness” and that’s it

-The other 20% of the people who get this disease turn yellow

-The scary part: 3% of the people who get this disease will DIE and there is no cure, no medicine to stop these deaths, you simply cross your fingers if you get it and hope you are in the lucky group of the 97%

Ok, instead of withholding the answer, I am going to show some pictures that give the answer away

the vaccine itself, dont worry: they write dates backwards, the vaccine expires on Mar 12th, 2014 

someone looks pretty excited for a shot

someone else looks a little more nervous

my lovely medical assistant Maren, preparing her father's arm with alcohol

all the supplies

more skilled prep-work by maren...Nancy was the first person to go for the vaccine, super brave

In those pictures, you can see a vaccine for the mystery disease. And you can see the sketchy drug injections that took place in our hotel when our parents arrived to Peru. The YF vaccine costs $250/person in the states. Here we were able to buy the vaccine for $25 (1/10^th the cost!). However, the clinic that usually administers the vaccines was closed on Good Friday when our parents arrived here in Cusco, and we needed to give the vaccine ASAP, since it needs 10 days to work before you go to place with dangerous mosquitoes. So…an  “almost-wannabe doctor” wound up injecting his parents and in-laws. I don’t think it was necessarily “legal” as the vaccine needs to be administered by a doctor or nurse (I am neither of those) and it needs to be administered in an “authorized vaccination center” (which I don’t think our hotel is registered as). Anyways, it was a pretty funny experience,  we could all rest assure that we wouldn't wind up in the “unlucky 3%” and when we visited the jungle.