Malaria? info again please
 

I've browsed through a couple of dozen threads on Malaria, but there is so much conflicting information its hard to know what to do here.

I will be travelling throughout Africa for the next 10 months, down the West, up the East. I don't want to take pills every day for 10 months. What have other people done in this situation? I'd prefer to just have a test kit and some treatment pills on me if I'm not close to a hospital/medical centre. I read in some ride reports of people who had Malaria without realising and went from perfectly normal to barely being able to stand in a matter of an hour or two - hence wanting treatment pills if in a remote area. I am unfortunately still in Spain, and I have time to buy something before I leave.

Anyone on the road doing something similar?

Will be taking pills one week before entering suspect area and a month after leaving as a profilactic measure
Take care of side effects
In any case as a preventive measure you take 1/6 of the dose compared to a person who is ill

Just wanted to point out that dosing before and after depends on the specific anti-malarial you decide to take. Malarone is different from mefloquine which is different from doxycycline. The advice quoted is often incorrect.

Personally, I always take antimalarials in sub-Saharan Africa, and I strongly suggest that others do the same. There's nothing like a bout of acute malaria to mess with your travel plans, or with whatever you hope to accomplish at home after your trip. OTOH, it's your life at stake, not mine.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

There is no reason to take profilactic pills for such long period of time - side-effects of it have ability to collect and became worse and worse.

On my opinion (I already 10 month in Africa going by west-side) and information I gathered the best idea is to have supply of pills and tests. As well as taking care about passive protection - mosquito nets, repellents and so on. Also, in Yaounde I saw some kind of personal electronic protection which is working on a batteries and making unbearable sounds for flying bastards. Passed it by so no idea if it's effective.

But what all of the people were telling me: even if you start to feel yourself worse but test showing nothing and you're far away from civilization - start taking pills immediately. You better not to joke with this crap. I've got malaria three times (Senegal, Cameroon, Angola) and it was not the best times of my life.

P. S. For Namibia and South African rep. you will need a prescription. I was really surprised when I heard that.

I believe you should build up a resistance to mosquitoes before thinking about NOT taking anything. I've had malaria several times & lost several friends in West Africa to malaria ...

Agreed, 10 months is a long time, but they could save your life!

However as I've been shuttling back & forth to W.Africa for many years and spend several months there each year, I decided since December 2015 to stop taking them as my immune system should have some resistance.

My advice would be to take them for several months to build some resistance but talk to a knowledgeable tropical medical doctor first!

I was a Lariam user (but took Mephlaquin the generic version) which is a lot cheaper in West Africa compared to Europe. I now carry two 4 tablet packets of Mephlaquin and several self-testing kits that I can only find in Ghana; they are incredibly simple to use and give a result within 20mins. If I'm still concerned I go for a real blood test at a clinic.

Bearing in my you could be remote at time when you need medical treatment, take your own syringes & needles!

Glad that you're concerned about malaria, it does kill but so many people ignore the issue!

Sorry, but why not take daily pills? Small price to pay for avoiding malaria! The West African strains in particular are not something you want to mess with. Malaria is let us not forget a fatal illness.

Doxycycline is cheap with minimal if any side effects. I took it daily riding Africa west and east over nearly a year. Never contracted malaria. If i did, I was packing malarone for emergency self treatment.

Look at it this way, if you don't take a prophylactic and you contract malaria, I'd bet 100:1 you start taking prophylactics when you recover.

Malaria = High fever, vomiting, terrible headaches, and FATIGUE.
Best way of going through Africa without contracting Malaria is to use a combination of things:
1- Prevention: Mosquito net + Mosquito repellent.
2- Medication: Chloroquine-one week before heading out and a weekly dose.

I just don't really want to take pills for 10 months straight, Doxycycline has a lot of mixed reviews on this forum of people saying it is a waste of time. I would prefer some test kits and treatment pills for if I happen to get it while far away from a medical centre, for all other times I'd just go to the medical centre for treatment. However having said that, I will have a look in a Spanish pharmacy and look for something before I go, if Doxycycline is as cheap as they say then I'll probably just buy some and see how it plays out. God damn Malaria

Malaria throughout Africa has long since developed resistance to chloroquine. That renders the above advice useless, perhaps dangerous. Please do your own research and don't rely on what well-intentioned people post here--including me.

Mark

Hey thanks for the reply, that is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Taking pills for 10 months straight seemed crazy to me. From most of the blogs I've read, they've felt crap for a couple of days before even discovering they had Malaria, to not pass through a town that has no capabilities to deal with Malaria in a couple of days doesn't seem that likely, and you'd have to be pretty unlucky. This is why I was asking in regards to treatment pills, what are the recommended treatment pills as a "just in case" event where you do somehow find yourself unable to get medical attention. Something I could pick up here in Spain or in Africa on the way, (though I've heard there are substantial fake pills in Africa unless buying in reputable places)

Dakar it is, thanks

(did they stock test kits?)

You are right Mark.
Chloroquine is not used everywhere in Africa. It is Doxycycline. There is another medicine I cannot remember.
But one should not rely on what is advised here and seek professional help. Sorry for the mistake. It is a genuine error and I wouldn't want to harm any of our dear travelers.

Choosing a Drug to Prevent Malaria:
CDC - Malaria - Travelers - Choosing a Drug to Prevent Malaria

Malaria Information and Prophylaxis, by Country [A]

CDC - Malaria - Travelers - Malaria Information and Prophylaxis, by Country

Be VERY very careful about buying malarial drugs (or others) in West Africa, there are a lot of fakes around that are good fakes! Also sell-by-dates can be very short ...

Check, check & check again before you leave a pharmacy with anything!

It will help you to have a box bought in Europe so you can compare it!

If drugs are incredibly cheap, why do you think that is so?
There is an abundance of fakes often made in India. What they contain and at what strength is anybody's guess.
You really have to educate yourself regarding malaria, so you know the symtoms and the options for prevention, detection and treatment.
Some people I know who live all year round in malaria regions use the Artemisia Annua, the anti malarial drug that gave a Chinese woman the Nobel Prize for medicine last year. You can make tea from it.
Wormwood tea to treat malaria: The WHO is opposed to an effective preventive medicine.
Like other drugs, it is not 100% but what is important is that if you contract malaria it will be less severe.
There are reports of resistance to artemisia. In the long run, we will need a vaccin to eradicate malaria.
For myself, I stay in regions with malaria no longer then one month per year, and I take Doxycyklin that I bring from Sweden. One per day. Never had any side effects, and never had malaria.