BootsnAll Travel Community

Gonna be in China, South East Asia for about 3 months, was quoted by a doctor that malaria tablets for a preriod of 2 weeks would cost about 60 to 70quid.
SO, how do the long term stazyers deal with this situation, i am all ears, for many years, i leave for that area in just over 2 weeeks, so for gawds sake, do telll....


chheeeerrrrr

alienxxxx

Had that discussion with friends and doctors a many times.

First, here the map of malaria risk (divided in risk categories):

Malaria Risk Map

Now, according to my doc, you only need to take preventive malaria treatment if you go to HIGH risk regions for longer than a month. All other regions with a risk, she recommends to take the emergency package only.

Personally, I don't take malaria medication in a preventive form anymore. All they do is (as far as I understand from my conversation with the doc) to prevent an outbreak...you will still get it if bitten by a transmitting mosquito. My line of thinking is: if I will still get it, hell, then I can take the medication in case I DO get it.

On my last trip which led through Pakistan, India and SEA I did not take it.

alienep2001 - you have been quoted a right-rip-off price from that doctor of yours. I'll be heading to SE Asia in 2 weeks and I paid £30 for 3 months worth of Malaria tablets, doxycycline to be precise, from Boots pharmacists. Supadrug are cheap too - they quoted me 25 pence per tablet - I couldn't believe how cheap those two were either!

Chances are, if you get your tablets from the pharmacy at your local doctors or an independent chemist in this country, you will get ripped off.

My advice would be to shop around - tell them how long you're going for and any good pharmacy should be able to give you a quote.

Note: not sure which malaria tablets you'll be taking - I've chosen Doxycycline because I've taken it before as a teenager as it is also an acne medication and the only downside is sensitivity to sunlight whilst you're on them.

If you choose these then you only need to start taking them a couple of days before you go away, but you need to then take them for a further 4 weeks after you've left the malarial region.

In places like Thailand, etc. it's mainly the border areas and off-the-beaten-track places that are the highest risk, so if you're just sticking to heavily-populated, touristy areas you'll be at less risk. With my trip I have no idea where I'll be headed as such, so better to be protected than not in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

J.

I'm sure this has been discussed on the boards somewhere before...

Malaron a common anti-malaria pill is often prescribed, but has serious side effects in MANY people.

Just a heads up. You should talk to your doc about it.

quote:

Originally posted by ferml:
I'm sure this has been discussed on the boards somewhere before...

It has been discussed at length. Check out the Health and Travel section, specifically this link for some of the threads regarding Malaria.

I have taken doxycycline every day for a year without a problem.
Malaronemade me irritable for a month until we switched to doxy.
If you wait till you see/hear mosquitos its too late. You need to start taking A.M. meds before you get to an infected area.
Taking doxy is cheaper than getting a cure.
Always consult a doctor before taking meds.
Take doxy with breakfast....doxy on an empty stomach makes you puke.