Travel health ยท Cambodia
Angkor at sunrise and a river capital โ where the vaccine list is short, and the real question is whether you leave the paved road.
The short version
Most travellers to Cambodia need 4 vaccines, and three to four weeks is enough time to do it properly.
Leaving sooner? Most of it can still be done โ we prioritise what matters for your route. Nobody gets turned away for booking late.
Recommended for essentially everyone going to Cambodia.
Food and water, and the one vaccine nobody argues about. CDC recommends it for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over; the Government of Canada recommends it for all travellers. Markets, ice, riverside restaurants โ this is the vaccine that lets you eat like you came to eat.
Any time before you fly. One dose covers the trip; a second, six months later, covers decades.
The same route in as hepatitis A, and the one place our two sources genuinely part company. CDC recommends it for most travellers to Cambodia, especially anyone staying with friends or relatives or visiting smaller cities and rural areas. The Government of Canada calls the risk low for most travellers. We say which way we lean once we know your route.
At least two weeks ahead for the injection; the oral capsules take a week to finish.
Blood and bodily fluids, including unplanned medical or dental care โ which matters more than usual somewhere the Government of Canada describes medical facilities as poor and very limited outside a few foreign hospitals. It recommends the vaccine for all travellers; CDC for unvaccinated travellers younger than 60.
The standard course runs over months. Faster schedules exist โ bring your dates.
Tetanus, measles-mumps-rubella, polio, chickenpox. CDC asks travellers to be current before every trip and asks all international travellers to be fully vaccinated against measles. The Government of Canada also asks travellers to make sure their measles vaccination is up to date before going.
Tetanus if it has been more than ten years, which for most adults it has.
The honest answer to โam I too late?โ depends on the date. Put yours in and weโll work backwards. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Worth a conversation โ the answer changes with where youโre going and what youโll be doing.
The full list for Cambodia. Most people need the first two or three; the rest depend on where you are going and for how long.
Spread through contaminated food and water. CDC recommends it for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over going to Cambodia; the Government of Canada recommends vaccination for all travellers. Given how much of a Cambodian trip happens around food โ markets, street stalls, river towns โ this is the one that changes how the holiday feels.
Bacterial infection from contaminated food and water. This is where our two sources differ, so we say both: CDC recommends it for most travellers to Cambodia, especially those staying with friends or relatives or visiting smaller cities or rural areas. The Government of Canada says the risk is low for most travellers and to discuss the vaccine with a provider. Available as an injection or oral capsules.
Spread through blood and bodily fluids, including unplanned medical or dental treatment. The Government of Canada recommends it for all travellers; CDC for unvaccinated travellers younger than 60. Many Canadians already have it from the school programme, so we check the record rather than assume.
CDC asks travellers to be up to date before every trip and asks all international travellers to be fully vaccinated against measles; the Government of Canada likewise asks travellers to be up to date on measles before going. Tetanus is the one that lapses quietly, and a scooter graze or a temple-step scrape is the usual reason it comes up.
CDC advises all eligible travellers to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines, and the Government of Canada recommends vaccination for this destination.
Mosquito-borne virus that can cause brain swelling. CDC recommends the vaccine for people moving to Cambodia to live or spending a month or more there, and says to consider it for shorter trips that involve visiting rural areas, hiking or camping. It is not recommended for short-term travel to urban areas. The Government of Canada calls the risk very low for most travellers, and higher for stays of 30 days or more, repeated trips, extended rural stays and heavy mosquito exposure. Two doses, 28 days apart.
CDC states that dogs infected with rabies are commonly found in Cambodia, and frames pre-exposure vaccination around occupational or recreational activities that raise the risk and around difficulty getting prompt access to treatment after a bite. The Government of Canada names children among the higher-risk groups, alongside adventure travellers, cave explorers, veterinarians and wildlife workers. CDC also notes rabies vaccines are typically available throughout most of the country โ but "typically available" is doing a lot of work if you are eight hours from Phnom Penh.
Our sources differ here too. CDC says chikungunya vaccination is generally not recommended for Cambodia and to consider it only after talking to a provider. The Government of Canada notes chikungunya is present with seasonal and regional variation, and that a vaccine is approved in Canada. For most travellers, mosquito precautions carry this one.
Not recommended for Cambodia itself โ there is no yellow fever in the country, and both sources say so. Proof of vaccination is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever occurs. If Cambodia is one leg of a longer trip, bring the whole itinerary and we will check where it applies.
Honest about the risks, and specific about what prevents each one.
The most likely thing to affect your trip, and the least dramatic. Contaminated food, water and ice are the usual routes, and both hepatitis A and typhoid travel the same way โ which is why the vaccine list starts there.
Prevention Hepatitis A vaccination, and typhoid where we agree you need it. Bottled or boiled water, ice you saw made, fruit you peeled yourself. Rehydration salts in the bag.
CDC describes a year-round risk in many parts of Cambodia; the Government of Canada calls it a risk to travellers with seasonal variation, and notes plainly that no vaccine or medication for it is available in Canada. The mosquitoes that carry it bite during the day, so evening-only precautions miss them.
Prevention DEET 20%+ or picaridin through the day, reapplied. Air-conditioned or screened rooms. Long sleeves at dawn and dusk.
CDC notes that motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of healthy travellers abroad. The Government of Canada is blunter about Cambodia specifically: drivers do not drive safely or respect traffic laws, and drinking and driving is common and frequently the cause of accidents. It advises travelling by road in daylight hours.
Prevention Daylight travel. A proper helmet, every time, on any two wheels. Check your travel insurance actually covers motorbike accidents โ many policies do not. And do not hand over your passport as collateral for a motorbike rental; the Government of Canada warns against exactly that.
The Government of Canada describes Cambodia as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with risk around Preah Vihear, the Phnom Kulen temples, border areas and rural parts of several provinces. This is not a background statistic โ it is a rule about where you put your feet.
Prevention Stay on paved roads and marked paths. Do not walk in forested areas, fields or dry rice paddies without a local guide. Take signage seriously even where the area looks farmed.
CDC states that rabies-infected dogs are commonly found in Cambodia. Bites, scratches and licks on broken skin can all transmit it, and it is almost always fatal once symptoms appear โ the Government of Canada says so plainly.
Prevention Do not touch animals, including friendly-looking ones. Wash any bite or scratch with soap and water for 15 minutes and seek care immediately, vaccinated or not. Pre-exposure vaccination buys time and simplifies what you need after a bite.
The Government of Canada notes that human cases of avian influenza have been reported in Cambodia, and advises avoiding contact with birds and avoiding live-poultry and wet markets.
Prevention Stay out of live-animal markets and away from poultry. Make sure poultry and eggs are properly cooked. Wash hands after any animal contact.
Medical facilities are described by the Government of Canada as poor and very limited outside a few foreign hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, with medical evacuation to Thailand or Singapore often required. Payment in cash or an insurerโs written guarantee may be demanded up front.
Prevention Insurance that explicitly names medical evacuation and hospital stays. Policy number saved offline. Enough of your own medication for the whole trip, in the original labelled container.
The Government of Canada advises exercising a high degree of caution in Cambodia because of an increase in petty crime, and notes that phone and bag snatching occurs frequently, including theft from locked rooms in low-cost accommodation.
Prevention Nothing medical about this one โ just keep phones off tuk-tuk-side hands, and do not leave passports or medication loose in a budget room.
Prevented with tablets rather than a vaccine, and only needed for some routes โ which is why the answer depends on your itinerary.
Risk sits in pockets of rural and forested areas, with rare cases in non-forested areas. CDC states there is no โ or negligible โ transmission in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, and none at Angkor Wat. The Government of Canada frames it as a risk in certain areas and at certain times of year, and names the town of Siem Reap and the Angkor temples as clear. For the standard temples-and-capital itinerary, that means no tablets. For overnight stays in rural forest, it means a real prescription and a real conversation.
For rural and forested areas CDC lists atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, primaquine or tafenoquine. Chloroquine and mefloquine are both recorded as resistant in Cambodia, so neither is used here. The parasite mix is unusual โ CDC puts it at about 95% P. vivax and 5% P. falciparum โ which is why primaquine and tafenoquine appear at all; both need a G6PD blood test first, so they are not a same-day decision. In the areas where cases are merely rare, CDC recommends no tablets at all and insect-bite precautions only. Which of these fits you depends entirely on your route, so bring it.
The things that prevent most travel illness are not medical.
Almost everyone who walks in here is doing the same trip: fly into Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, three or four days at the Angkor temples, a few days by the river, out again. For that trip CDC states there is no โ or negligible โ malaria transmission in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, and none at Angkor Wat, and the Government of Canada names the town of Siem Reap and the Angkor temples as clear. The list is short and the answers are easy. The other Cambodia begins where the pavement ends: rural and forested provinces, overnight stays, trekking, work placements. That trip picks up malaria tablets, a real conversation about Japanese encephalitis and rabies, and the landmine advice below. Same country, different page. Tell us which one you have booked and we will not waste your time on the other.
CDC records both chloroquine and mefloquine resistance in Cambodia, so neither is an option โ a detail that catches people who took mefloquine somewhere else years ago and assume it travels. What CDC lists instead for rural and forested areas is atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, primaquine or tafenoquine. The last two are on that list because of an unusual parasite mix: CDC puts Cambodia at roughly 95% P. vivax and 5% P. falciparum, with P. malariae and P. knowlesi rare. Primaquine and tafenoquine both require a G6PD blood test before they can be prescribed, because they can cause serious red-cell breakdown in people who are G6PD deficient. That test takes time to arrange, which is the practical reason to come and see us three or four weeks out rather than three or four days.
CDC recommends typhoid vaccination for most travellers to Cambodia, singling out anyone staying with friends or relatives and anyone visiting smaller cities or rural areas. The Government of Canada says there is a risk of typhoid in Cambodia but that it is low for most travellers, and leaves the vaccine to a conversation with your provider. We are not going to average those into something neither source said. In practice: for a rural itinerary, a longer stay, or a visit to family where you will eat in a home kitchen, our pharmacist lands with CDC. For a short hotel-based Angkor trip, closer to the Canadian wording โ and we will tell you it is a reasonable thing to decline. Chikungunya runs the same way: CDC says vaccination is generally not recommended for Cambodia, while the Government of Canada notes a vaccine is approved in Canada and to discuss it with a provider.
The Government of Canada describes Cambodia as one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and names landmine and unexploded ordnance risk around Preah Vihear, the Phnom Kulen temples, border areas, and rural parts of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Thom, Pursat and Siem Reap provinces. The advice is specific and easy to follow: do not walk in forested areas, fields or dry rice paddies without a local guide, and stay on paved roads and marked paths. Separately, it advises avoiding all travel within 50 kilometres of the Cambodia-Thailand border because of ongoing tensions in that region. Nothing we can give you at the pharmacy addresses either of those. Reading them before you book the tour does.
The Government of Canada states that medical facilities are poor and very limited throughout Cambodia, except for some foreign hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and that medical evacuation to Thailand or Singapore is often required to get adequate treatment. It also notes that doctors and hospitals may want cash up front or a written guarantee from your insurer before they treat you. So two things belong on the packing list that are not medicines: travel insurance that explicitly covers medical evacuation and hospital stays, and a way to reach your insurer that does not depend on a working phone plan. Bring enough of your own regular medication for the whole trip, in its original labelled container โ that is the Government of Canadaโs wording and it is good advice anywhere the pharmacy shelf may not carry your brand.
Most people booking a travel consult with us are sorting out a household, not just themselves. A few things are different for children.
Bring the whole household to the same consultation. We review each personโs records separately but plan the trip as one, which usually means fewer visits and no repeated explanations. Tell us how many people when you book so we set aside the time.
CDC recommends hepatitis A vaccination for unvaccinated travellers aged one year and over. Younger infants travelling to a country where hepatitis A is present can sometimes have an early travel dose that does not count towards the routine schedule and is repeated later โ bring your childโs age in months and we will work out what applies.
The Government of Canada names children among the groups at higher risk from rabies. Small children approach animals, are less likely to report a lick or a scratch, and are more often bitten on the face or hands. CDC states rabies-infected dogs are commonly found in Cambodia. For a temple-and-city week it rarely changes the plan; for a longer or more rural trip it can.
The mosquitoes that carry dengue bite during the day, which is exactly when children are outside and least covered. Pack more repellent than you think you need and reapply it โ this is the main defence, because the Government of Canada notes there is no dengue vaccine or medication available in Canada.
Any immunisation records you can find, for each traveller. Alberta records we can often look up; out-of-province and overseas records we cannot. A photo of a yellow card is plenty.
No. CDC states there is no โ or negligible โ malaria transmission in Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, and none at Angkor Wat, and the Government of Canada names the town of Siem Reap and the Angkor temples as clear. If your trip is temples, capital and river, tablets are not part of it. If you are sleeping in rural forest, they are, and we will prescribe against your actual route rather than the country name.
Because Cambodia is one of the places it stopped working. CDC records both chloroquine and mefloquine resistance here, so neither is used. For rural and forested areas CDC lists atovaquone-proguanil, doxycycline, primaquine or tafenoquine instead. The last two need a G6PD blood test before they can be prescribed, which is a good reason to come in three or four weeks before you fly.
This is the one where our two sources genuinely disagree, so here is both. CDC recommends typhoid for most travellers to Cambodia, especially anyone staying with friends or relatives or visiting smaller cities and rural areas. The Government of Canada says the risk is low for most travellers. For a rural trip or a stay with family, our pharmacist goes with CDC. For a short hotel-based temple trip, declining it is a reasonable choice and we will say so.
Not coming from Canada. There is no yellow fever in Cambodia and neither CDC nor the Government of Canada recommends the vaccine for the destination itself. Proof is required only if you are arriving from a country where yellow fever occurs, so if Cambodia is one stop on a longer trip, bring the whole itinerary and we will check.
They are real and the advice is specific. The Government of Canada calls Cambodia one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with risk around Preah Vihear, the Phnom Kulen temples, border areas and rural parts of Banteay Meanchey, Battambang, Kampong Thom, Pursat and Siem Reap. Stay on paved roads and marked paths, and do not walk into forest, fields or dry rice paddies without a local guide. It also advises avoiding all travel within 50 kilometres of the Cambodia-Thailand border because of ongoing tensions there.
You will most likely be moved. The Government of Canada states that medical facilities are poor and very limited throughout Cambodia apart from some foreign hospitals in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, and that medical evacuation to Thailand or Singapore is often required. Hospitals may also ask for cash up front or a written guarantee from your insurer. Buy insurance that names medical evacuation and hospital stays specifically, and keep the policy number somewhere you can reach it offline.
Yes, and most families do. We review each personโs records separately but plan the trip as one visit โ tell us how many people are travelling when you book so we set aside enough time. Hepatitis A can be given from twelve months, and the Government of Canada names children among those at higher risk from rabies, which is worth going through per child rather than per family.
Nothing. The travel consultation is free โ a full review of your itinerary, every recommended vaccine discussed, and advice for your particular route. You pay only for the vaccines actually given. No doctorโs referral is needed; in Alberta a pharmacist can assess, prescribe and vaccinate in the same visit.
Bring your travel dates. A pharmacist will go through what you need for Cambodia, give what can be given that day, and book anything that needs a second dose. No doctor referral, no wait list.
Written from current CDC and Government of Canada guidance, checked 31 July 2026. Advice for your particular trip comes from our pharmacist, in person.
Imagine Health Pharmacy & Travel Clinic โ #4120, 15 Sunpark Plaza SE, Calgary, Alberta. In Sunpark Plaza, off Macleod Trail, serving Sundance, Midnapore, Shawnessy, Chaparral and the rest of south Calgary.
No doctorโs referral is needed. In Alberta a pharmacist can assess you, prescribe what your trip needs and give the vaccines in the same visit โ so for most travellers this is one appointment, not a clinic queue and then a pharmacy.
The vaccine guidance on this page follows the official recommendations below, read and applied by a pharmacist. Where the two differ we say so rather than pick one.
Checked against both sources on 31 July 2026. Official advice changes โ if your trip is months away, check again or ask us.
