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I lived, worked and overlanded around Africa for about ten years. I have had malaria maybe 15 times. Mostly while working in Sierra Leone. But also picked up to types of malaria in western Tanzania once...along with typhoid while overlanding solo from Harare to Mwanza.
I never took anti-malarials as a prophylactic. Just too hard on the body after a long time. I always did carry a full course of malarone with me. I got to know my symptoms and if I woke up in the morning feeling stiff, sore kidneys, low on energy I would start a course and get a blood test if one was available nearby. I would say that I was part of the drug trials for mefloquine (Larium) back in the mid 1990's while in the military and we were issued this weekly while serving in Rwanda. In about 5% of people you can get a very strong reaction including depression, halluciations and psychotic behaviour. We were getting it at a much higher dosage then you get now and we had a couple of suicides. So, I have avoided this drug every since. Read the fine print if you ever decide to take it. I would also mention that you need to do your research. Malarone will treat P. Falciparum, the most common form of malaria, but it will not treat P. Ovalle which I picked up as well in Tanzania. There are four strains of malaria based on the type of mosquito that bites you. In the end malaria isn't a death sentence. The first time for me was pretty severe as I didn't know what I had and let it go too far; but after that it was like having a bad flu for 24-48 hours. My two cents.... |
I took doxycycline on a cycle tour to the Gambia in 2013 and got malaria regardless. I wouldn't bother with doxy again.
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Another blanket statement based on one experience.
I have taken doxycycline as only antimalaria treatment for eight years and havent had malaria. Doesnt mean it will work for every one, every time. Chanses are your infection, if you get sick, will be much less severe if you are taking some kind of treatment. http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/resources...oxycycline.pdf |
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