Malaria pills or not?

[Kilili]

Gone there for years, and researched the subject a lot.. I, like many, think that the risks associated with the medication and diving, Larium being the most effective, are greater than the risk of getting malaria.
Use spray, be careful of where you are at night.
No, never caught it.

 

[Mossman]

Gone there for years, and researched the subject a lot.. I, like many, think that the risks associated with the medication and diving, Larium being the most effective, are greater than the risk of getting malaria.
Use spray, be careful of where you are at night.
No, never caught it.

Lariam? I think someone needs to update his research. Malarone has no side effects for most people, definitely doesn't affect diving, and with doxy you just risk a sunburn. Personally I'd rather be sunburnt than laid up in a hospital for weeks, but YMMV.

 

[ScubaBB]

It looks likes the yes and no go for a draw. It sure stays a difficult dilemma.

 

[EastEndDiver]

I suffered from Malaria........40 years ago in S.E. Asia.Malaria is one of the last/worst things you ever want to get.

I would do anything possible to avoid it!

 

[jefffalcone]

Lariam? I think someone needs to update his research. Malarone has no side effects for most people, definitely doesn't affect diving, and with doxy you just risk a sunburn. Personally I'd rather be sunburnt than laid up in a hospital for weeks, but YMMV.

I think someone needs to stop trusting pharmacutical company propaganda. Malarone has side effects for everone I know who has taken it. There are virtually no drugs that dont have side effects. Usually when a drug is touted as having no side effects, it really means most people tolerate the side effects fairly well.

Malarone also costs $10 a pill, so drug companies have vested interest in convincing you that it is necessary and the best way to avoid malaria.

 

[Mossman]

I think someone needs to stop trusting pharmacutical company propaganda. Malarone has side effects for everone I know who has taken it. There are virtually no drugs that dont have side effects. Usually when a drug is touted as having no side effects, it really means most people tolerate the side effects fairly well.

Malarone also costs $10 a pill, so drug companies have vested interest in convincing you that it is necessary and the best way to avoid malaria.

$6 a pill at my local CVS. In my opinion, tolerating side effects to the point that you don't believe you have any side effects means there are no side effects. I might have had a little tummy trouble once or twice, but then again that could have easily been "side effects" from the beer, cocktails, wine, and spicy Indo food.

Even the CDC, which I understand is not a drug company, says "Well tolerated—side effects uncommon ". And given the price of booze in Indonesia, $6 for a daily pill is nothing.

(On the other hand, here are the "side effects" of contracting malaria, according to the CDC: "Malaria is characterized by fever and influenzalike symptoms, including chills, headache, myalgias, and malaise; these symptoms can occur at intervals. Uncomplicated disease may be associated with anemia and jaundice. In severe disease, seizures, mental confusion, kidney failure, acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS), coma, and death may occur.")

If I did catch malaria, I'd really wish I hadn't listened to your advice.

 

[randy88k5]

I took Lariam when I went to Vanuatu. I don't remember having any side effects that I attributed to those pills. As stated before, your mileage may vary. Other people in our group took a few other brands/formulas, and one person did have a reaction (headache and stomach problems) for about a day. I don't know what he was taking.

When we were there, the locals said the mosquitoes were not problematic because they were in a drought. However, it rained very heavily while we were there, and the drought ended. They started burning wood and other debris in and around the city at night to keep the mosquitoes down.

I would recommend taking the anti-malarial pills. You might ask the question in the regional forum. Locals there might be able to give more accurate reports.

 

[ScubaBB]

Are there no locals on this forum?

 

[Blue Sparkle]

It looks likes the yes and no go for a draw. It sure stays a difficult dilemma.

I think this may always be the case for many areas. I haven't been where you're heading, but I had the same dilemma a number of years ago when I was heading for Central America. There was not as much information online then, but there was enough to be confusing.

I think the problem is that for many areas it IS so variable. Some particular locations - even though they are within a malaria zone - may turn out to have no mosquitoes (hence, no malaria). Some locations may have mosquitoes sometimes but not others. Some of your activities may make a difference (i.e. outside in the country at dusk vs. in town, etc.).

In the end, I had to get as much information as I could and then formulate my own plan. What I did (and this is speaking of the drugs from back then, so is probably only valid now as an example) was just take the anti-malarial drugs for the areas where Chloroquine was effective, because I didn't see too much negative/possibly scary about Chloroquine. To me that was a no-brainer.

Then I moved into an area where Chloroquine was not effective, where the effective drugs had more possible side effects, and where there was the additional possibility of the faster, more-deadly malaria (as I remember it now). What to do? I got answers of all stripes in my readings

What I did was procure and bring along the more "scary" drugs for the non-chloroquine areas (sorry, I forget which one it was now), and then I waited (which was a slight gamble) until I got there and could see how the mosquito situation was in my location (on the water where I had heard there might not be mosquitoes). As it turned out there were no mosquitoes there, so I never had to take that drug. I did take a risk but with the information I had, I deemed it to be my chosen risk over the risk of having a negative drug reaction.

So, in summary, where I was going there were no perfectly clear-cut answers, and there were people who would say "Yes" to either side of the equation. I got all the information I could and then made what I felt was my best decision(s).

Blue Sparkle

 

[lmorin]

Hey, contact the CDC directly. Or, visit a travel medicine specialist. Counting votes here is only going create more angst driven by folks who are relying on their own experience or hearsay.