malaria

hi all,

i will be traveling to siem reap on nov. 16 and will spend two weeks in cambodia and laos. i am wondering about malaria and taking malaria pills. what has everyone else done? the cdc recommends taking them, but i%26#39;ve read that spray is most effective. any advice much appreciated!

thanks,

jenny

malaria

I have not met or talked to 1 traveler who has suffered with malaria , that does not mean it cannot happen , however , many use sprays such as Skeltolene or Deet as a precaution . The worst mosquito is the black one with yellow stripes that bites in daylight hours , it spreads Denge fever which can be life threatening , but i have only heard of that occuring in villages and heavily wooded areas . The onus on prevention is entirely up to the individual , there is no medication for prevention or cure for Denge Fever .

malaria

I`ve been travelling to S E Asia regularly since 1984 and have never taken a malaria tablet in my life. I am certainly not complacent however and firmly believe that prevention is better than cure and always use plenty of spray that contains DEET. Remember to use it particularly at dusk which is when the critters seem to be most active. However, travelling in November is a good time to visit as the risk of malaria should be lower.

Have a great trip.

You will hear from many who say dont take malaria pills on this forum and the evidence is always that they have never had malaria or know people who have malaria.I have also not been killed in a car accident-so?

From the CDC Atlanta on average 25 US travellers a year die from malaria.I myself have treated someone who had probably a 100 trips to Asia.On 101 he got cerebral malaria.Worth the risk?

Please note there were 2 previous posters to #3 and neither even suggested not to take malaria medication , The onus is ALWAYS on the traveller to do what ever he/she feels is best in their particular circumstance . I personaly added the warning for Denge-fever as this is more onerous than Malaria .

I spend 1-2 months out of the year traveling around REMOTE parts of Southeast Asia and would never consider plying my body with antibiotics. Malaria and Dengue can be avoided if you PREVENT yourself from getting mosquito bites, which, as previous posters have mentioned, is a pretty basic routine. DEET, cover up, re-apply DEET if you are sweating. Places in mosquito risk areas will provide nifty mosquito nets for your bed. I love to sit outside and drink beer at dusk, which is when malaria mosquitoes feed, so I burn mozzie coils at this time. (They also feed in the morning, and dengue mozzies feed all day)

Folks-look at all the statistics of the cases of MRSA and compare them to the number of malaria deaths before you start randomly taking anti-malaria prophylactics.

And MRSA has absolutely nothing to do with Malaria prophylaxis.Doxycycline is not going to induce MRSA.

As to side effects there are people here who obviously do not know how drug side effects listed are obtained-it is by people reporting anything that happens when taking a drug-for example if someone is given an antibiotic for a respiratory tract infection they report the symptoms of the respiratory tract infection.Look at the CPI for most antibiotics and you will see respiratory tract infection reported as a side effect.Is it really a side effect?

Of course malaria meds aren%26#39;t going to ';induce'; MRSA, but they can attribute to the body becoming immune to that antibiotic.

Incidentally, doxycycline has some pretty nasty side effects.

And what are the nasty side effects?You dont give it to children or pregnant women because of its effect on teeth.It can cause a skin photosensitivity.Malaria can do a lot more.

This is always a contentious issue on here, please seek advice from your (travel) dr.

regardless of whether you take malaria prophylaxis, make sure that you use deet repellent and cover up.

If you use the search facility you will find a number of threads about this

I%26#39;ve been living in Asia for 23 years and a majority of the dioctors have no idea about malaria, dengue, typoid, giardia and othe nasties you can pick up in Southeast Asia. Go to a doctor which specializes in TRAVEL MEDICINE if you must.

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