Anti malarial medication? A long time ago when I traveled to Belize I think my Dr. prescribed me Cipro of all things if I remember. I was to take 1 a week while there and then 1 a week for the following 2-3 weeks after returning? I then read that malaria is a 100% treatable disease in 1st world countries and taking such preventative meds while on vaca could cause more problems for the locals as the last thing they need is a stand of malaria that has become immune to a common antibiotic that we may take as preventative but they use to treat an infection. I haven't taken any preventative meds since and prefer to apply bug spray but I'd appreciate your thoughts on this.
Your doctor may have prescribed Cipro to prevent food and water borne infections, like Traveler's Diarrhea. Cipro is usually not recommended as a preventative these days because it can result in more resistant strains of the bacteria and also reduce your own normal flora, making you more susceptible to other types of infections.
Recommendations on whether or not to take preventive medications for malaria before, during, and after the trip depend on where you are traveling and the risk of infection. I don't know where
@hilljo88 is traveling in SE Asia but he said that there are local warnings about malaria and dengue fever so I suggested that he take precautions.
The CDC weighs the prevalence of the infection, the risks to travelers, and the resistance of the strain(s) present in the area, the likelihood of side affects to medications, etc. before making travel health recommendations.
For example, currently the CDC does not recommend taking preventative malaria medications for trips to Belize (mosquito avoidance only) but they do recommend taking malaria meds for Roatan and the other Honduran Bay Islands, see below.
Luckily the strains present in Honduras are not resistant strains so most people can take the medication without much worry about side affects (sometimes you need nasty drugs to treat nastier bugs!) The biggest problems with malaria are in Sub-Saharan Africa, but it does occur in many other tropical locations.
The best thing to do is go to the CDC Traveler's Health website at:
Travelers' Health | CDC and enter your destination and read the recommendations. You can also visit a travel medicine infectious disease doctor for advice, vaccines, and prescriptions; and sometimes your local public health department will provide travel medicine information and some vaccines.
The CDC site will also tell you if the country you are visiting requires visitors to present proof of certain vaccinations before they will be allowed to enter (like Yellow Fever if you are traveling from Brazil).
Health Information for Travelers to Honduras - Traveler view | Travelers' Health | CDC
From the CDC's Traveler's Health Honduras:
Malaria
Areas with malaria: Present throughout the country and in Roatán and other Bay Islands. None in San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa.
Estimated relative risk of malaria for US travelers: Moderate.
Drug resistance: None.
Malaria species: P. vivax 93%,
P. falciparum 7%.
Recommended chemoprophylaxis: Atovaquone-proguanil, chloroquine, doxycycline, mefloquine, or primaquine
CDC - Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. People with malaria often experience fever, chills, and flu-like illness. Left untreated, they may develop severe complications and die. In 2016 an estimated 216 million cases of malaria occurred worldwide and 445,000 people died, mostly children in the African Region. About 1,700 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the United States each year. The vast majority of cases in the United States are in travelers and immigrants returning from countries where malaria transmission occurs, many from sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
