malaria in vietnam?
 

Im heading for hanoi with four mates for a 10 day off road tour to the north in october and was wanting to know if there were any others who had done similar and what anti malarial precautions worked for them.
cheers
sinkers

Last year, I spent 6 months travelling around Asia, I made the decision to not take the Malaria pills. My reasons for doing this, was the amount of time, I would be on such a strong drug, which causes a whole lot of other problems. I was personally comfortable with my decision and made sure I was really careful when I was in the Malaria areas, for example covering up at dusk and dawn and sleeping under a net etc.

Only you can make the decision. The best advice I can give you which will save you a lot of money, is waiting to you are there to buy your Malaria pills. They are generally up to date, the the country Malaria strand and a lot cheaper!

The very first time I went to Laos, my doctor here in Brisbane, AUS gave me a pill that didn't even work in Laos! Check out the medical web sites and have the name of the pills written down somewhere for when you arrive.

Thanks for that info.I will definitly be taking a mossy net and plenty of RID .The side affect of "depression" of one type of pill I read about doesnt sound good . Dont want to be sad on my holidays too, anyway off to the travel doctor tomorrow for some vaccinations, I think i will pass on the Rabies one though, no rabid dog could keep up with Sinkers on a xl125:scooter:
cheers
sinkers

malaria
 

that was indeed good advice. SEA countries have pharmacies in every part of the city/village (and some even in every 2 streets). Malaria pills you buy at home may give you the impression that you are safe, but can never give you any guarantees. They may suppress the symtoms of a local variant, which will make it harder to detect a malaria infection when you get bitten. I travelled around in SEA for more than 3 years without any pills and never experienced any problems at all. A sudden outburst of high fever will not kill you and will make it easier for you to get immediate medical treatment. So don't worry about it too much. Travel with a mosquito net (go for the box shape with 4 anchor points and not the bell shaped one with 1 ceiling anchorage).Don't even worry about mosquito repellent at home. Buy the local brands. They are more effective and cheaper, but don't use that stuff unless you really think it is necessary. Better to have trousers, socks and shirts with long sleeves in the evening.

and indeed, lariam is a weird kind of drug. I tried it out the very first time I went to the tropics. I quit after 3 days. Never took any pills since then.

hope this helps. Safe travels!

Buy Local
 

I took some malaria pills once and most of my hair(on my head) fell out! I am sticking with that theory! Do what the locals do!!!
Orrin

I'm not going to directly address the various opinions addressed above, except to say that yes, malaria can kill you in a hurry (even with treatment), and yes it can thoroughly ruin your vacation even without killing you.

I've said all else I need to say on other malaria threads. I suggest that those asking these questions search out those threads, or at least have a look at the CDC website. I also suggest not basing decisions on information of unknown reliability or applicability posted in on-line forums....but for those who insist on doing so, I wholeheartedly recommend a poster named "nutraxfornerves" on the Lonely Planet (Thorn Tree) forums. Do a search for her posts by name in the health branch.

Safe journeys!

Mark

Thanks all for your advise on this subject.

PS
Ive decided to go with DOXYCYCLINE .
Sinkers:thumbup1: