Well, here I go again. Striving for accuracy in the dispensing of information. Regarding comments in #6.
States that deet is bad for your health. The CDC and the FDC say it is safe for your health. Sure, you could overdose on it, just like you could overdose on vitamin C or any number of other things, but overdosing is not what we're talking about here. Deet's been around since WWII, so there's been plenty of time to study it.
According to the studies done by Consumer Reports, and others, a product relying solely on 5% deet won't repel mozzies long enough to be much good for most situations. The effective time varies with the aggressiveness of the different mosquito species, and the effective repelling time for agressivive mozzies for 5% deet is zero; as it is for many products on the market, many of which claim to work.
Repel is a brand, not an ingrediant. They make a number of different repellents, most of which didn't work in the CU studies for a long enough time to be effective for most situations. Again, the lenght of effective time varies with the different species of mozzies. So to say that Repel is more effective than most of the deet stuff is flat out inaccurate and misleading.
According to the CU studies, nothing is more effective than the 30% deet products. And only one non-deet product was even in the same ballpark with the 30% deet (the above mentioned Repel Lemon Eucalyptus Oil (I think there are two more words to the complete name for this product).
A bunch of brands will probably start adding a bit of lemon eucalyptus oil to their non-deet products and promote them as being tested effective. Truth is, according to CU, lemon eucalyptus oil is probably just like deet as far as the relationship between strength of ingrediant and effectiveness.
I, too, would like to see a reference to the studies which say the use of deet as a repellent is bad for the environment.
Aloysius please check into things before posting rash statements. Search side effects of any of the anti-malaria medications listed above and you will find some very serious side effects. My advice to you vanquish is to ask your doctor and maybe get a second opinion, but I would not rely on information coming from a forum. Obviously people on the internet open their mouths with out any knowledge at all of what they are talking of. Just because you didn't happen to get any of the side effects Aloysius, since I'm guessing thats what your basing your information off of, doesn't mean that their aren' t any.
zach, my info comes from the CDC website, as well as from medical professionals including those working in travel clinics, not from my personal experience. In other words, straight from the horses mouth. So from reading up on it I am very much aware of the side effects. I should have worded my third sentence better, but anyone heeding my fourth sentence advice to read about it on the CDC website will there find the best wording of all about side effects. Choloquine is in a whole different league than the other drugs. I stand by my guns that no doctor is going to say that the side effects of choloquine are too bad to risk. They might make that statement to certain individuals with known specific conditions that make it risky, but not as a blanket statement. I spent many hours on the CDC website learning all sorts of good information about travel medical concerns; snake bite, malaria, dengue fever, you name it. I consider it important to be informed. Again, I wish I had worded the third sentence better. If I could edit I would do so.
Buen viaje!
Doctors and Travel Clinics also tend to cover their ass. Being one who reacts to many things,
I've chosen to not take anti malarias on my trips even though the doctors said to. If malaria
exits in the country, they recommend taking the meds. I travel with a mosquito tent that is also good
for other bugs and critters (bedbugs, rats, mice etc as you never know where you might find yourself).
The malarial mozzie is out at night.
When I get to an area I ask the pharmacist and or doctor
to find out if there are current outbreaks of malaria. It was recommended that I take the stuff in India,
there were no current outbreaks in the areas I traveled and very few mozzies. This did not warrant
subjecting my body to those strong meds. Westerners that live in malaria areas do not live on those
meds. I try to weigh the risk and if there ends up being mozzies, I am extra careful. So far, there have
been few times to even be concerned. If I were to develope any symptoms, I would seek out a blood test
and then take medication to treat if needed.
Since you have decided to take meds, seek out medical advice on the best way to take it and for how long.
The CDC website tells you the proper way and for how long to take cholorquine. It also gives you all sorts of useful information about avoiding mosquito bites. Malaria is not the only concern. In fact it is probably not even the biggest concern in Central America. That honor probably falls to dengue fever, and those are daytime mozzies.
Buen viaje!
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<hr>Aloysius please check into things before posting rash statements. Search side effects of any of the anti-malaria medications listed above and you will find some very serious side effects. My advice to you vanquish is to ask your doctor and maybe get a second opinion, but I would not rely on information coming from a forum. Obviously people on the internet open their mouths with out any knowledge at all of what they are talking of. Just because you didn't happen to get any of the side effects Aloysius, since I'm guessing thats what your basing your information off of, doesn't mean that their aren' t any.<hr></blockquote>
And just because you didn't get malaria when you travelled in a malarial area doesn't mean that others won't either.
All drugs have potential side effects. Just like all diseases can potentially be caught. It is all a matter of weighing up the relative risks of each.
In making a decision about whether to take malarials, you have to compare:
(1) the risks associated with malaria (e.g. death) and the risk that you will contract malaria in an area where you will be; and
(2) the potential side effects of anti-malarials and the risk that you will suffer one of those side effects.
Indeed, everything we do is ultimately down to a risk equation. The potential side effects of a head-on car crash are pretty serious too (much more serious than anti-malarial side effects, actually). But does that stop people driving just because the risk exists? People make an assessment and usually decide they're prepared to take that risk. It's the same with anti-malarials - the mere possibility of side effects doesn't answer the question - it just gives you one piece of information, which you then need to weigh up with all the other risks (including the risk of contracting malaria) before making a (hopefully informed and reasoned) choice.
The generally accepted medical view is that in an area where malaria is endemic (which includes the Peten and other lowland areas of Guatemala, but not the highlands), then the overall risks of malaria far outweigh the potential risks of side effects of the anti-malarials. I have yet to come across a reasoned body of medical opinion to the contrary. If you know of it, please send a link.
Zach... I've been taking anti malarials since the '70s. My info comes from the CDC, WHO and military doctors well trained in jungle survival and tropical diseases. Of the anti malarials used in Latin America, only one has a long history of medical warnings andthat is Larium... not needed in Central America. Even it's side effects of psychotic delusions are now thought to occur mainly in those with pre existing if undiagnosed mental disorders. I've come across one case of some psycho chick who took a bottle of at least 30 chloroquine in an apparent suicide attempt. Fortunately they worked and killed her. Fact is that malaria, even the relatively mild kind found in CA can cause permanent damage. I think your doctors are idiots...where did you find them? But... I also think it is great that you aren't taking the pills. Keep it up. In fact, it would be best if you weaned yourself off all modern western medicines. Do your part to combat global warming.
Obviously it's up to yourself if you take them or not. My dad contracted Malaria and he's still suffering from the effects and that's for more than 40 years now. I'd rather have some mild side-effect (not the Lariam kind, mind you) and don't suffer from Malaria.
I haven't come accross a doctor who would advise against anti malarials but there are some gangsters about ;)
Anyhow, OP has made an appointment in the Travel Clinic and I'm sure we'll get a report on what they have advised too.
Everyone is an expert, huh?
How many of you soapboxers (yes, you Aloysius, among others. Mr "Here I go Again" - get over yourself) have a medical degree and experience as a medical professional in a tropical malaria-prone region?
Hmmm.....
Read the CDC site, again, Aloysius. They do refer to the Lemon Euccalyptus Oil as showing effective in preliminary studies (latest report was 2002 - outdated). More recently, the New England Journal of medicine and a report in the Wall Street Journal states that tests show Lemon Eucalyptus Oil is effective for at least 120 minutes. Very high ranking.
And the CDC site states that DEET should not be used on children and that cases of seizures and fatal reactions have occured when DEET has been used on exposed wounds/cuts. And Canada as a country is phasing out products with more than 50% DEET.
Not to even mention the enviromental damage caused by the production, use, and disposal of DEET products, especially to marine life.
What would I rather take? Hmmmm....
#19, no need to promote the worth of Repel's Lemon Eucalyptus spray to me. You're preaching to the choir. I'm have been recommeding it as an effective alternative to deet since the CDC and Consumer Reports both did so in 2005. I have also been recommending that people read the CDC website and the Consumer Reports articles (I do so in #5, 10, 11, 13, 15 just on this one thread alone). The tests referred to in the Wall Street Journal article you note were those conducted by Consumer Reports. I posted a fair amount of detail about those tests here on ThornTree about 3 weeks ago. You should be able to find it with a search.
In the Consumer Reports tests the Repel Lemon Eucalyptus spray was effective against an aggressive species of mozzies for 4-7 hours, and against a tamer species for 12 hours. That's some very good results. But a couple of things need to be noted. It doesn't solve the need for all night protection against agressive mozzies while sleeping out in the bush. A 98% deet does. And other lemon eucalyptus products with lower concentrations of lemon eucalyptus may not repel for very long, so beware of the expected misleading claims on some new lemon eucalyptus products. Because of the rapid increase in mosquito-spread diseases around the world, and the development of new repellent products, I expect to see Consumer Reports do another test incorporating the new products within a year or two. I'll pass it on when they do.
Buen viaje!
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