Thorn Tree travel forum

1

The official line in your country may well be "......South China is a malaria risk zone". The official line in China would probably be ".... everywhere in China is perfectly safe". I think not even the WHO can give you an accurate assessment of the situation. But you can still find truckloads of tourists - westerns and locals - pouring into the area in different time of the year. The sensible approach in planning for your trip is to exercise reasonable healthcare cautions so as to be able to enjoy yourself while not taking risks unnecessarily.

If you are still in doubt. Avoid the trip altogether. It's not worth it if you have worries about your health throughout the journey.

2

Hello -- I was at my local Travel Health Clinic a week ago for a consultation on a trip to Asia. She gave me some maps including one of China that details areas with malaria.
The map also shows that some areas are chloroquine-resistant (meaning you need a non-chloroquine anti-malarial like Mefloquine or Malarone in such areas.)

Most of Yunnan province is highlighted as having chloroquine-resistant malaria. However, Lijiang is literally right on the edge of the highlighted area. Here are some notes at the bottom of the map that should be helpful to you:

There is no malaria risk in the urban areas nor in the densely populated plain areas. In general, tourists do not need to take malaria prophylaxis unless they plan to stay in remote rural areas in the provinces listed below:
Chloroquine RESISTANT malaria occurs in Hainan and YUNNAN.
Chloroquine SENSITIVE malaria in Fuijan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan, Xizang (only along Zangbo river valley in extreme south)

So again, it's up to you. The map comes from travelcare.com which is a site for travel health clinic nurses and doctors to find up-to-date information. All the best.
-Kynan

3

No worries. As far as know, malaria is only a risk from april-may onwards, when it gets warmer and wetter, and only in the south near burma and laos borders. And even there the risk is very low.

4

what i have heard is that malaria only exist in xishuangbanna and on in some areas on the border to Burma. Also malaria need a fairly high middle temperature to grow.
lijiang is on 2200 m above sealevel so it can't be that high middle temperature year around.

Also two doctor on diffrent time in Sweden didn't recommend me to take any malaria pills in China.

I am not a doctor, so you shouldn't listen at me :) but i have travel in china sometimes and meet a lot of peoples, none of them have ever worried of malaria or take any malaria medication.

Akai

5

I lived in Yunnan for 10 months.
I never saw mozzies in Lijiang or Kunming that time of year. Nor did I ever meet anyone who had malaria in that part of China.
No way would I take malaria prophylactics there.

Have an excellent trip.

cheers from Ruth

6

Thanks for all the replies! Wouldn't it be great if someone like the CDC or WHO published seasonal maps of disclosed Malaria cases? The drug companies probably wouldn't be too happy!

Safe travels!

g.

7

Ok, so Maleria Pills are not necessary, but should we take Deet and or a mosquito net? Do accommodations provide mosquito nets?
Thanks

8

A bit of a tangent--but what about Xishuangbanna in mid-april? I'd mostly be sticking to Jinghong and the surrounding area...is that urban enough?