Malaria questions

Hi Tommy,

For your own safety and health, you really should ask your doctor/GP that question.

Where in Guatemala and Colombia will you be? Unless you are going to be in the jungle (i.e. El Peten or Rio Dulce in Guatemala), there is no need to take the drugs. Also check to see if Yellow Fever vaccine is required in Colombia - as it may be if you plan to go to the Amazon basin.

Each of the drugs you listed have different dosages. For example, Malarone you start 1 week before heading into the jungle (if I recall correctly...). Lariam, I have heard can make people hallucinate or depressed. And Doxycycline is a good anti-biotic -- but taking antibiotics may hinder your immune system in the long term if you take them without really needing to.

Again...I'm not a medical professional - so it's better if you speak to your doctor -- of even better, a doctor that specializes in infectious diseases or travel.

Cheers,
Kay

Kay and Franks Trip to Central America

Seeing a doctor at a travel clinic instead of a GP would already have answered this for you. You are unlikely to find any MDs on this board, but my gut feeling is that unless you want to experiment on yourself with drug interactions, you should skip chloroquine and limit yourself to just one thing that will work in both malarial locales. If you want to use two, Check travmed.com. Any drug you take needs to be contiued for 4 weeka fter leavint the particular area.

Hi Tommy,

This is really a question for your doctor. However, my understanding (and unqualified opinion) is you can use any one of the post chloroquine anti-malaria drugs in an areas where chloroquine still works. The risk is you are introducing a drug in an area where it is not needed yet so this may shorten it's usefulness (due to resistance) if chloroquine looses it's effectiveness. If I had to make this decision without a doctor I would choose to use the least recent anti-malaria drug (or least dangerous) that works in all areas. Personally I would not take both.

BY FAR the best idea is to pose this exact question to your doctor or travel clinic.

Also, not all areas of Guatemala are malaria risk. Some area are too high and some haven't had a case in many years. Of course there is always some risk in these areas....even if you are taking the appropriate drug.

Have fun!

I'll be travelling in CA and then staright into a Malaria zone in SA. My GP (I highly recommend to visit a GP to you too!!) said that Cloroquine won't be ok in SA and you should not take 2 anti-malarials at the same time. You will have to take Cloroquine 4 weeks after leaving the Malaria area and most anti-malarials need to be taken at least a weeks before exposure.

As #1 pointed out, Lariam has severe side effects but only needs to be taken once a week.
Malarone is quite expensive and as far as I know should not be taken for more than 4 weeks.

My GP advised Doxycyclin as it is effective in CA and SA and it is affordable. But as everyone else pointed out, you should seek the advice of your GP.

Personally, I don't like Deet. It is bad for the environment and bad for your health. The high-deet stuff melted my flip-flops too! The OFF!Skintastic for Families is pretty good - only about 5% DEET and smells fine.

There are several new healthier options that are non-Deet. Most have proven to be ineffective. Except one: REPEL with Lemon Eucaplyptis Oil. We tried it in Nicaragua and it works great. Now that is our first choice when available.

This month's edition of Backpacker Magazine (US) - has a great review of most of the mosquito repellents - everything from Ben's Wilderness, to 98% Deet, to REPEL. Repel ranked really high. More effective than most of the deet stuff. And it smells really good. And you'll have a happier conscience about being good to the environment!

Cheers,
Kay

Kay and Franks Trip to Central America 2007

Thank you all!!!I will book in with my local travel clinic and post their advice back on here, as I hope it may be useful for other people. Thanks!!!!:)

#6...evidence of environmental damage from DEET??? Hell, it melted your flip flops. Without the DEET those suckers would have laid around for years. You seem more concerned about smelling good. You go humping a pack through the jungle and you are going to stink...just ask those around you.

All the doctors that i talked to advised me that some of the side affects of taking anti-malaria are to bad to risk, and that going to CA it might just be better to take your chances....

No self-respecting doctor is going to say that chloroquine's side effects are too bad to risk. Because it simply is not true! There are practically no side effects to chloroquine. Read up on it at the CDC website.