Maleria Tablets

Hey i'm just wandering waht sort of percentage of people are taking maleria tablets in both Bolivia and Peru? I've looked over the information and it appears that there is no maleria in the the main 'touristy' areas as the majority of them are higher than 2000m.
I'm just trying to decide whether i need to bring tablets and if so how many weeks worth, any help will be appreciated.
Thanks in advance

there is no maleria in the the main 'touristy' areas as the majority of them are higher than 2000m.

Uh.??

Rurrenabaque - 250m / Riberalta - 150m / Coroico - 1500m / Villa Tunari - 260m / Santa Cruz - 400m

A lot depends on when you are traveling. (i.e Rainy Season.)

I agree with mason, it depends on where you are going. What don't you give a quick call to your doctor just to be safe? If you are going to Bolivia and to some other countries in SA then you'd need a yellow fever vaccination certificate. Have you got that one?

regarding my personal experience in peru from the end of sept to the end of october this year

i stayed for a month in the selva area and did not take any

but i do have yellow fever inocculation

hope this helps

elred

If you stay in the high part of Bolivia you definately dont need to take any tablets.
If you go to the jungle there are certain places where you need to take Malaria tablets and others where you dont need it. As far as I know there is no need in Coroico, Rurrenabaque and Santa Cruz or Trinidad. But if you went to a place close to Cobija you should take tablets because the bolivian people say: if you go there and one mosquito bites you, its for sure that you have got it.
I would suggest if you are planning to go to such areas that you bring tablets and speak to the locals before you decide taking or not taking them, for they know best if its nessesary.

#4

Take any notice of the majority of that advice, and you could end up seriously ill or dead.

A map of the malaria risk in Bolivia:
http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/destinations/south-america/bolivia/bolivia-malaria-map.aspx
The corresponding map for Peru:
http://www.fitfortravel.scot.nhs.uk/destinations/south-america/peru/peru-malaria-map.aspx
(These addresses have been changed within the last year).

(NHS at nhs.uk is the National Health Service in UK. "FitForTravel" is the "Travel health information for people travelling abroad from the UK".)

If you search for Malaria here at the Thorn Tree, you can narrow your search in steps: 1. Choose destination South America. 2. Choose destination Bolivia.
You will get 16 results. (And more after my posting).

In the thread Malaria and Leishemisis - Corioco, 10-May-2009, Joostschouppe tells:
"There is no malaria in Coroico, as the malaria mosquito simply doesn't live in those parts. Even in Rurrenabaque, more to the north and in the real Amazon malaria is quite rare. If any, cases of infected tourists are extremely rare."

Also I say: Rurrenabaque is not a malaria area. This applies to the normal pampas and jungle/rainforest tours from Rurre.

Still, malaria is absolutely a serious disease. You have to know about the disease and how it infects. About malaria in general: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

So about precautions and malaria preventive tablets: Everybody has to decide for oneself. Which advice to listen to.

No guarantee can be given. Neither the malaria tablets are 100 % effective. This about effectiveness is one of the facts mentioned in the LP Bolivia guide, which also states: "Protecting yourself against mosquito bites is just as important as taking malaria pills".

The Thorn Tree search function has been changed some months ago and today the search only goes half a year back. The subject malaria risk in Bolivia (and Rurre in particular) has regularly (but not frequently) been discussed in this forum, and as far as I remember, the majority of posters have agreed that malaria preventive tablets are not needed in Rurre. And many posters have stated that they didn't take malaria meds.

Whereas for instance about the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park: "Noel Kempff is one of the few regions in Bolivia where malaria pills are a must". (This is a quotation from the thread Eastern Bolivia, 11-May-2008, reply #1 by Keimbeggra).