Malaria Pills needed in Ambergris??

[zinfin]

We are going in August, we have read that malarone may be recommended.Any thoughts?

 

[peterbj7]

No. Absolutely no-one here takes anti-malaria meds. Most people on the mainland don't either, and the incidence of malaria is very low. Not saying that might not change with climate shift, but it hasn't yet.

In practice a greater threat here is dengue fever, also spread by mosquitos. But there again it is still very rare, and I've never heard of anyone who takes precautions against it.

Do remember that these meds only give a degree of protection anyway. The only way to be sure not to catch any diseases from biting insects is not to get bitten, so that's where you want to concentrate your efforts. Bug spray is widely available and widely used.

 

[redgym]

No. Absolutely no-one here takes anti-malaria meds. Most people on the mainland don't either, and the incidence of malaria is very low. Not saying that might not change with climate shift, but it hasn't yet.

In practice a greater threat here is dengue fever, also spread by mosquitos. But there again it is still very rare, and I've never heard of anyone who takes precautions against it.

Do remember that these meds only give a degree of protection anyway. The only way to be sure not to catch any diseases from biting insects is not to get bitten, so that's where you want to concentrate your efforts. Bug spray is widely available and widely used.

You may be right, but the CDC disagrees.

 

[peterbj7]

The CDC and WHO are in my experience wrong more often than they are right. I could reel off several instances when I have gone to places relying on "official" guidance, only to find when I got there that it bore virtually no relation to the truth. Caused me to contract two serious illnesses in places that were supposedly free of them. Some years ago the WHO even advocated drinking the piped water supply in Cairo on the basis that it was heavily chlorinated, even though cholera was in fact endemic there and no local in their right mind would drink anything other than bottled water.

Anyway, believe what you will. The FACT is that people here DON'T take specific preventatives against malaria, and in nine years here I have never heard of anyone contracting malaria on this island. Country-wide the incidence isn't very high. I don't know the numbers here for dengue fever, but it's pretty uncommon.

 

[Damselfish]

when we were in the interior of Belize last year we were talking to someone local who gave us the same impression, he said it was a problem when he was little - in fact he had contracted malaria twice (the second time because he didn't finish his meds the first time.) But he said it was no longer a problem. He described a big push to deal with it, like people regularly going house to house checking for standing water (eg. old tires in yard) and getting stuff like that cleaned up. Also a lot of education of kids in school to go home and make sure there parents did this (probably more effective to teach the kids to nag the parents. He said at the time there was also easy availability of free clinics and meds, but that they're hardly ever open now because they don't get used. I do get the sense there is a complacency now that probably isn't a good idea.

 

[peterbj7]

If you look at Belize Vacations, Tours, Resorts, News, Hotels, Travels, Flights, Weather, Maps, Real Estate you'll find a current thread discussing this very topic, with new measures that are being taken to ensure the problem remains contained. One specific recommendation was just what you said - ensure old tyres etc don't have standing fresh water in them. No-one here is complacent, I can assure you! I know one family that years ago had two cases of dengue fever, and they take all this VERY seriously.