Sheryl

OK, I went to the actual source. https://pr.moph.go.th//assets/uploads/news/2568/d62f018add623ebcf36966b7ec9f883a.pdf 8,862 is a projected estimate for new infections for 2025. Probably based on a modeling exercise. The MOPH announcement says nothing about a "surge" or increase, and from the numbers none is projected. As mentioned in prior post, the actual figure for 2023 was 9,300. I don't know what 2024 was as that information is still be compiled/verified but it is clear that cases are not on the increase, though they are also not decreasing as fast as would be desired. So any social media reports of a "sharp increase"are fake news. This is exactly why there is a Health Forum specific rule against pisting news articles etc...they are so very often (indeed, most often in the case of social media) inaccurate. "4. Posting/pinning of news articles: The forum is for members to seek advice on health/beauty related matters. it is not the place for general dissemination of news, research findings etc. Members are not to post news articles/research findings unless in the context of a discussion specific to an ASEAN NOW member's health/beauty related problem." https://aseannow.com/topic/1341934-rules-specific-to-the-health-forum/ Thread closed.

Social media is not an accurate source of epidemioligical information. And mass media is not much better. There are mass media reports quoting the MoPH as saying something about 8,862 new HIV infectiond in 2025 but it is totally unclear if this reflects partial year dsta (and if so, for how many months) or is a projection of what the total is likely to be by the end of the year --- or is actually data for 2024 being reported now in 2025. All very different things. This information takes time to vollect and verify, and typically reported annually around thr middle of the year for the prior year. The confirmed figure for full year 2023 was 9,300. If this 8 862 figure is actuslly for 2024 , then there has been no increase. And litlle or no increase if it is a ptojection for 2025. if it is actually for an unknown number of months in 2025, then it is a large increase. Note that the number of new infections and prevalence/number of infected people are quite different from number of new infections. Syphilis infections have been rising worldwide for some years now.

The problem is that some of the children for whom it is necessary cannot be identified in advance. While rare, severe disease can and does occur in some children with no known risk factors. It is only in retrospect that one would know that vaccination was in fact "necessary" for these specific individual children. Their numbers are small enough on a population level that most country public health programs consider the expense of routine vaccination unjustified. Resources are finite and need to be directed where they will do the most good for the most people. That does not change the fact that failng to vaccinate will lead to serious illness in a small minority of otherwise healthy children, and parents who can afford to pay for the vaccine may well choose not to take that risk. I would not call such vaccination "unnecessary". It is necessary if one wants to eliminate a small but serioous risk (small in likelihood, serious in consequence).

A givernment facility like this is not where I would ask about this. A pediatrician at a private "international" hospital that carries thd JN.1 vacine would be best bet (but still no guarantee).

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I strongly recommend you go to the recommended doctor. If yoy have chronic conditions of relevance to this issue (unlikely but possible), either supply that history verbally or bring copy of your medical records with you. Spine specialist really does not need (and will not pay much attention to) your full medical history if no prior spinal procedures/confitikns and surgery not being contemplated. Meds currently taken, allergies, and any chronic ongoing conditions is enough.

I know you prefer Bumrungrad but the best spine doctor in Thailand is at BNH https://www.bnhhospital.com/search-doctor/entry/4093/ If an MRI is needed, can save money by doing it at www.mrithailand.com If you get the all clear to try exercises/PT, many people recommend https://www.bpcphysio.com/ If there is no radiation of pain down the leg and no numbness or tinhling in the legs, you could try physio first (or even home exervises/stretched, many on youtube) before MRI/doctor but stop at once anything that produces pain If there is radiation of pain down the leg or leg numbness/tingling, see doctor first

Moved to Insurance Forum. What policy fo you have now, and is it including outpatient? As that is an extraordinarily high premium otherwise. I am paying about that amount at age 72! (Hodpitalization only 500 USD deductible).

Yes, I saw this and mentioned it on the other thread currently running. Apparently Jomtien Hospital also has so good chance so do some other private hospitals. No pediatric doses but if doctor is willing, they can do a fractional dose from adult vial if so inclined.

Moved to appropriate forum. You can enter visa exemot and will get 60 day stay (as of now, could change in future).. Within 3 days if departure you need to fill out online arrival card https://tdac.immigration.go.th/arrival-card/#/home

just checked - Mahodol Travel clinic has it, too! 1,762 baht (there will be add on charge for deoctor etc so call it 2K) https://www.thaitravelclinic.com/cost.html And they are also offering RSV for seniors, which is pretty new. but costly at 7,211

That is amazing if true, as it is the newest vaccine. First I have heard of it being available anywhere in Thailand. If you get it, check that the vial says"Comirnaty JN.1"

@Lorry any info on current Paxlovid availabiliyy?

Yes, weight loss will do a lot. I take it the results were of a follow up test after using the machine. What do you mean by results being "spot on". Were they improved over baseline?

Please see this thread re vaccine availability. https://aseannow.com/topic/1362237-covid-vaccines-for-children-where/ Note that the newest vaccine is not available anywhere in Thailand, and in many places the available vaccines are several generations (vaccine generations) old. BPH has vaccine but I do not know which version. The current strain is unusually infectious (more so than the already very infectious earlier strains) but also unusually mild in most cases. If you test positive nothing other than symptomatic treatment and isolating at home is needed unless you have specific risk factors. If you do have the latter, Paxlovid might be advised but I have no current info on its availability. Other antivirals more readily available don't do much to be frank.

Current Thai Pediatric Guidelines (2024) include vaccination of children but there is no mass vaccination campaign for anyone at this time let alone children. As already mentioned Thailand also does not have the newest version of vaccine. The government has really not formulated a coherent response to this latest outbreak yet. No new guidelines issued and if anything is being done on vaccine procurement it has not been publicized. Given the recent study findings it can safely be said that there will not be any mass vaccination of children in Thailand unless the epidemiological or clinical picture significantly changes. The main argument for mass COVID vaccination of children is not child health per se (though the benefits do outweigh the risk in children, the overall risk is is very low unless the child has other health problems) but epidemic control: children live in families and can easily infect other members some of whom may be elderly and/or high risk. Infections in childten -- easily acquired at school - can fuel spread of infection in the ovrerall population. Public health / publicly funded disease control measures are one thing, individual clinical decision making is quite another. A number of vaccinations recommended by the Pediatric Society of Thailand are not (at least as yet) part of the public vaccine schedule, but they remain recommended and can be obtained, for a price, at private facilities. Parents can and do make individualized choices for their children. OP had a bad experience with severe COVID in one of his children some years backs and wants to vaccinate themboth now. Nothing wrong with that, even if there is no mass vaccination campaign underway or justification on public health grounds. Public health measures are basef on the iverall population and , of necessity, always take cost benefit into account, and (unfortunately) are also not exempt from political considerations.

Some people are never symptomatic. Will still have positive test. When the test turns positive depends on viral load. May be positive before symptoms or not until after, even a few days after in some cases. Retesting makes sense if there is strong suspicion and if the information is critical (for example if you or a family member are high risk, or if it would affect your behavior).

Perfectly possible to have both.

The tests OP refers to check for three things: COVID, influenza and RSV. As to what difference it would make: - between the 3 illnesses, none if the illness is mild and there are no high risk persons in the household. With all 3, one should take measures to avoid infecting others, keeping in mind that among the general public there are people at high risk, even if there are none in your household. Between these 3 illnesses and common cold: it has implications for (1) measures one should take to avoid infecting others, since all 3 of these illnesses present a higher risk to certain groups of people than the common cold does and (2) risk of the illness worsening or causing complications.

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I added the source, please do not post unsourced quotes. Urolift has not been around enough to have data on very long term use. To date studies show only 5 year use data: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28646935/ Basically, about 14% of patients required and receive additional surgical intervention within a 5 year period. (Study only tells what percent had surgery, could have been additional ones with an indication for surgery who did nto receive it for one reason or another). Note that improvements were statistically significant but not as complete & dramatic as some might expect, i.e. average 36% improvement in International Prostate Symptom Score, 52% improvement in BPH Impact Index Score. These are averages, and likely conceal considerable variation among patients i.e. there may have been some with dramatic improvement and some with little to none. There are likely individual factors that may help predict which patients will get the most benefit from this, and that should be discussed in detail with a urologist with extensive experience in it. It is nto a panacea nor suitable for everyone.

Make sure it is Comirnaty XBB.1.5, as there are early versions still around.

The newest vaccine ever brought into Thailand is the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty XBB.1.5, and that, only some places have; the ones I know of are all in Bangkok. The newer 2024-2025 Pfizer vaccine is not available. The XBB 1.5 vaccine will still be of some help especially in completely unvaccinated children who have never had COVID (these will be a minority, see below). Older vaccines, which might be all that one can find outside of Bangkok, might still help but are not approved in Thailand for children under current guidelines; only the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty XBB.1.5 is approved for chldren under current Thai guidelines. Last I heard (admittedly about year old info) these places had the XBB1.5: Mahidol University Thai Travel Clinic Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute Bumrungrad Hosptal Praram 9 Hospital quite possible some other large private hospitals in Thailand now have it too HOWEVER, these have only the adult formulation. As you likely know, the dosage for children is different from adults. 3 mcg dose for your 3 year old and 10 mcg dose for your 6 year old. The vaccine is otherwise the same and per the guidelines of the Thai Pediatric Society, if the pediatric formulation is unavailable, fractional dose can be used i.e., they can give a partial amount of adult dose vial. Therefore even if a hospital or clinic does not have the 3 or 10 mcg dose, they can use a partial quantity of the adult dose -- but you'd want to make sure they understand this and calculate correctly. And they will probably end up wasting most of the vial, which if quantities are scarce, they may be unwilling to do. Do not expect anyone answering phone or email to know this, they will likely answer only that they do not have the pediatric vaccine, which is technically true. Doctor may or may not be willing to partial dose from use adult vial , and it would take direct doctor order to make that happen. Which you may or may not be able to get. While the official COVID vaccine guidelines have not so far changed, the current outbreak is of an extremely contagious but unusually mild (for most people) variant. A recent study found that 80% of young children in Thailand already have immunity to COVID. This study has not yet been peer reviewed or published in a scientific journal but it has been widely publicized in the general media and a Chulalongkorn researcher even took the unusual step of posting it on Facebook. While any change in guidelines remains to be seen, pretty much everyone knows about this finding and it will probably influence provider behavior/willingness to use a fractional dose from an adult vial to vaccinate a child if there are no special risk factors present. If you have not already, you can try asking Bumrungrad and Praram 9. Do not ask if the have the pediatric vaccine (they don't); ask if they have Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty XBB.1.5 vaccine available. If they do, ask if they will administer fractional dose based on age to children (better yet, go and ask this in person -- Thais tend to always say no to anything they are unsure of, and whomever you could reach by phone or email will not be a decision maker). If it is any comfort, your 6 year old, having already had COVID for sure, probably has good immunity and your 3 year old also likely (80% chance) has some immunity, and the current strains are much less severe than what was around when your now 6 year old got it. Of course if either of your children has special risk factors due to chronic disease, or if there is an older person in the same household with unusual risk factor that needs to be protected, that changes matters and best to go see a pediatrician at a hospital you know has the XBB.1.5 vaccine in stock to press your case.

That is not s prescription it's a label. By definition a prescription is a signed doctor order for a medication. Neither doxycycline nor most other drugs require this in Thailand. However, drugs in their classification (Thai FDA Categiry D) can only be sold by a Grade 1 pharmacist. If there isn't one (either at all, or on duty at the time you go) legally they can't dispense to you. Nothing to do with your having a prescription it is a pharmacy issue.

Still seems odd for such small enlargement. 26 ml is almost normal dize. I continue to suggest ruling out infection.