Malaria Medication or Not?

I'm trying to figure out whether or not to take Malaria pills while traveling in Asia. My travel plan: I'm leaving in a week for a 6 month trip around Asia. We'll by flying into Bangkok and will probably spend the first few months around SE Asia (Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc). After that we'll be heading into China and then Tibet, Nepal and India. We don't really have a plan once we get to Asia, but plan on seeing things all over. i.e. mountains, rivers, beaches, etc. Does anyone have advice on taking Malaria meds while in these areas? What did you do? What did you take? Any help would be helpful! Thanks!! (and Happy Thanksgiving to all you people from the States)

Since you're going to Laos, Cambodia, Nepal, Vietnam and India a doctor would definately recommend you take malaria pills while visiting those places. There is a risk of malaria definately in those parts of the world. Your choice ultimately, I'm going for 6 months to Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Thailand and I'll be bringing malaria meds for 5 out of those 6.

I fould this cool map to show where malaria can be a problem.
Check it out.
Brian.

Malaria Map

There definitely is some risk of contracting malaria in those countries especially since you are talking about a six month time frame, not a week.
You do have some options though:
1)get malaria meds from a doctor. You will be able to get more of whatever they give you in any of the countries you are going to. Probably for much cheaper than you will pay for it at home, so don't bother bringing more than a month's supply of medicine with you.
2)just wait and get malaria meds when you are there from a pharmacist/chemist. This would leave you vulnerable for a couple weeks, but it is unlikely that you would get malaria in that time.
3)If you don't like the idea of taking pharmaceuticals, especially for a 6 month time frame, consider the all natural malarial profilactic/remedy Artemisinin. Don't laugh, this stuff really works.
4)Wear alot of mosquito repellant at all times and sleep under a mosquito net at night. (you might have to bring a net with you...)
5)Do nothing and hope for the best.

Hope this helps....

Artemisinin works, but only as a cure, not a prophylactic. The drug is not stable in the body. Myself, I'm taking Doxycycline (Malaysia, Indonesia, Southern Thailand for 3 months)

heh see what I know...

And just for some icing on the cake

Malaria is still the worlds largest killer at something like 27 million annually so as for locals having an auto immune system, does not work for everybody.

Prevention will also be far easier to handle than cure.

I took malarone, which I think is one of the newer ones, and didn't have any problems. As for taking malaria medication, like my doctor said when I wondered whether or not I should bother, all it takes is one bite. And since you will definitely be bitten, I would say take it.

quote:

Originally posted by gonorth:
And just for some icing on the cake

Malaria is still the worlds largest killer at something like 27 million annually so as for locals having an auto immune system, does not work for everybody.

Prevention will also be far easier to handle than cure.

You forgot a .
Affects anywhere between 300-500 million annually, with a mortality of 1.4-2.6 million per year.

Back to the original question, since you'll be flying into Bangkok, which has almost no known issues with malaria, it might be easier to pick up your supplies of antimalarials there. Certainly will be cheaper, but just remember to obtain it from a decent/reliable source, especially Doxycycline, which can cause kidney probs if consummed beyond its expiry date.

quote:

Originally posted by Supraintendent:
T
3)If you don't like the idea of taking pharmaceuticals, especially for a 6 month time frame, consider the all natural malarial profilactic/remedy Artemisinin. Don't laugh, this stuff really works.

While it has given good results against Plasmodium falciparum I haven't seen any data that shows how effective it is against the other species of malaria. Would be curious to see if it is an all round wonder drug.

quote:

Originally posted by Barnstormer:
I fould this cool map to show where malaria can be a problem.
Check it out.
Brian.

Malaria Map

Nice for those of use who cannae be bothered reading
Though I do like the CDC page, even if it isn't as pretty
http://www.cdc.gov/travel/regionalmalaria/index.htm

I am not a doctor.

However, I am returning to SE Asia for my fourth time and I do not take anti-malarials.
Just a data point.

Thanks for all your help. I think I'm going to buy some meds when I get to Bangkok. I imagine it is MUCH cheaper that way and I don't think Bangkok is a real risk.

Daniela

quote:

Originally posted by static:
I am not a doctor.

However, I am returning to SE Asia for my fourth time and I do not take anti-malarials.
Just a data point.

Where in SE Asia did you go Joe? I'm considering not to take any anti malarials because of the side effects, but I will be going to rural areas in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. I rarely get bitten by mosquitoes and is the risk of getting malaria in these places really that big? How long time do you have to go to a doctor when the symptoms of malaria occur?

Battambang, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, The Euro-Disney (slow boat) farang ride down the Mekong, Luang Prebang, Van Vieng, Vientiane, HCMC, Hue, heaps of Thailand. My physician would be horrified if he knew that I travel without malaria meds.

I get bitten, mostly on my ankles, mostly at dawn, and am not quite dead yet.

If the malaria doesn't kill me, the cheap Thai whiskey will.