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Liverpool's School of Tropical Medicine on World Cup standby

Liverpool’s School of Tropical Medicine is on stand-by for an influx of England fans needing inoculations before travelling to Brazil for the World Cup.

The school’s Well Travelled Clinics in Pembroke Place is preparing to vaccinate thousands of fans from across the North West against diseases they could bring back from Brazil.

England will face Italy, Uruguay and Costa Rica in the group stages in Manaus, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte in June.

Experts say the risks are different in each location, and of the three, the sticky climate of Manaus is expected to present the most health hazards.

The remote Amazon rainforest city was the location of Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine’s first overseas laboratory in 1905.

Well Travelled Clinics managing director Philippa Tubb said the clinic was also ready to vaccinate footballers from Merseyside clubs picked to represent their country, if called upon by football associations.

Ms Tubb said: “If 1,000 to 2,000 fans from the North West are going out to Brazil, I would expect us to see a chunk of them.

“Brazil is an amazing place but there is no doubt that it is a high risk destination and fans need to prepare and look at travel advice.

“Now that we have got the cities where England are playing we are putting information out on our website. We have to constantly look at updating information, because mosquitoes can’t read maps.”

Fans are advised to have vaccinations for yellow fever, DTP (diptheria, tetanus and polio) and Hepatitis A.

They are also being urged to take tablets to prevent malaria, cover up to prevent bites and take heed of general health advice like staying out of the sun.

Ms Tubb said supporters also needed to be aware of the risk of dengue fever in Brazil – like malaria and yellow fever; it is spread by mosquito bites.

She said: “There is a shortage of the yellow fever vaccine at the moment and a yellow fever certificate is an entry requirement for Brazil.

“The biggest risk is malaria in Manaus because it is in the Amazon basin, in a very high risk area – in Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte the risk is not as great.

“These football supporters are going to have the most fantastic time but if they are spending this much money, they need to prepare and look after themselves.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .