Anti-malarials?

[Donnah]

Been to Coz many times. Never take anything for malaria in Coz or Roatan, but have always been diving and on an island. Use Deet if a problem or stay in the bar at sunset.

 

[cvchief]

Use Deet if a problem or stay in the bar at sunset.

Well, the deet is good advice. However the house mossie that carried dengue likes quiet still places. No wind. It is NOT those giant quart sucking mossies that will carry you off at dusk.

Beware the Aedes aegypti



So stay in the bar AND wear deet, though the first part won't help.

 

[tomfcrist]

Could always use doxy as a profilactic, it works while allowing you to NOT smell like an old lady in a nursing home.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Could always use doxy as a profilactic, it works while allowing you to NOT smell like an old lady in a nursing home.

Less expensive than some other anti-malarials, too. The downside is the dosage is generally one pill daily, including pre and post-trip, which means a LOT of pills, and the pills (at least the ones I've used) are capsule-sized, not small.

 

[cvchief]

You might consider Cellcept. It is thought to be prophylactic for dengue. Of course that might be little extreme.

 

[Mossman]

Could always use doxy as a profilactic, it works while allowing you to NOT smell like an old lady in a nursing home.

Less expensive than some other anti-malarials, too. The downside is the dosage is generally one pill daily, including pre and post-trip, which means a LOT of pills, and the pills (at least the ones I've used) are capsule-sized, not small.

And once again, to clarify, there is no need to take anti-malarials in Cozumel because there is no malaria in Cozumel and anti-malarials do nothing against dengue. So suggestions of which anti-malarials to take really aren't helpful.

 

[tomfcrist]

Actually mossman, doxy also cures as well as can prevent dengue fever. As well as any studs you may pick up overseas.

It's cheap, effective and has few side effects. Just wear plenty of sunscreen.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Actually mossman, doxy also cures as well as can prevent dengue fever.

My understanding is that doxy's effect against the dengue virus remains unproven.

My comment about doxy was not meant to refer to Cozumel. I don't take antimalarials in Coz, or for that matter Roatan. Lots of DEET, yes. An epidemiologist friend who works for the CDC says it's all about playing the odds, and it seems like he takes antimalarials pretty much everywhere in the tropics. I have taken antimalarials in Africa and Asia. It's no doubt a false sense of security that because the Caribbean and Central America are so close to home that my odds are lower. Oh well.

 

[DeputyDan]

Well, the deet is good advice. However the house mossie that carried dengue likes quiet still places. No wind. It is NOT those giant quart sucking mossies that will carry you off at dusk.

Beware the Aedes aegypti

View attachment 176632

So stay in the bar AND wear deet, though the first part won't help.

That bastard bit me on the leg while hiking out of the jungle from the ATM cave in Belize. Dengue came to visit a week or so later. And no - dengue is not the best method to use to lose weight!

 

[tomfcrist]

Actually mossman, doxy also cures as well as can prevent dengue fever.

My understanding is that doxy's effect against the dengue virus remains unproven.

My comment about doxy was not meant to refer to Cozumel. I don't take antimalarials in Coz, or for that matter Roatan. Lots of DEET, yes. An epidemiologist friend who works for the CDC says it's all about playing the odds, and it seems like he takes antimalarials pretty much everywhere in the tropics. I have taken antimalarials in Africa and Asia. It's no doubt a false sense of security that because the Caribbean and Central America are so close to home that my odds are lower. Oh well.

It's been used for years to treat active cases of dengue with good results. I would assume that the relatively recent theory that it doesn't work was made up by pharmaceutical companies to push more expensive drugs as a cure...either way dengue is a relatively mild virus, no worse in my opinion than gastroenteritis.