Malaria prophylaxis for 2 weeks in Ghana?
 

Hey :)

i will be in Ghana in novembre for about 14 days (+- 1-2 days), do you guys think I should follow the recommendations and take malaria prophylaxis there?

I am kinda sensitive when it comes to side effects and all those pills are kinda heavy. All we have for that in Germany would be the antibiotic "Doxycyclin" which I have really bad experiences with (depression and stomach issues), or the "Malarone". I just am afraid of the side effects more then of malaria.

Should i take it or just standby meds and loads of repellants?

I personally do your last suggestion, precautions against being bitten and standby medication for the very reasons you give.

Same old question. Having caught malaria in Ghana during November, and therefore missed a substantial portion of what was otherwise a fun trip up in Mali and Burkina Faso, I'd suggest taking the Malarone. FWIW, Malarone has a low probability of noxious side effects. If you've heard horror stories, they're more likely about mefloquine.

Tourists do get malaria, and West Africa is a hotspot, especially near the coast. Tourists sometimes die, although more often they merely suffer mightily, like I did. Your choice.

Mark

Okay thanks, i guess I will take the meds then.

I think that for this sort of medical advice, you are best off looking at something like the CDC.gov site or contacting a local travel health clinic. Most folks here are not medical experts, and may not give the best advice.

That said, you'll need to use some judgment. I took Lariam malaria pills for a trip to India 20 years ago, and I was completely fine - yet they could apparently trigger serious issues in a very small number of folks. Do your research and take your chances, I guess.

Lived in Ghana. November is rainy season and as much you should take prophylactics. You should be fine on malarone and any small side effects will be much better than getting malaria!

Bring a hand held fly killer. That's the only protection I took while crossing the west coast of Africa. I purchase it in Mali. I got the 2017 fluo green model :) As a bonus, you get some satisfaction every time you kill one of them!

Another option is to get the new vaccine which should protect you for 6 months.

Also, I know someone who got malaria in Nigeria and he was back on his feet 18h after taking a "quinine infusion".

Patrick

as far as i know there is no vaccine for Malaria, maybe you mean a high dose of Malaria meds?

I decided already, I will take the Prophylaxis (Malarone) and never google the sideeffects again, since this is usually strengthen my side effects xD
I guess I'm a maniac doh

There is, in fact, a vaccine. In fact, there are several in testing or under development. The trouble is, they don't appear to work very well, if at all, and AFAIK none are on the market.

The one I've been reading about is not generally available, since it's scheduled for its first trials in the general population in 2018. Efficacy is pretty bad--less than 50%. The complete series takes three shots spaced a month apart, followed by a booster a year and a half later. It has so far been almost worthless in the absence of that fourth shot. AFAIK, trials to date have involved infants and children, not adults.

If interested, Google is your friend. In the meantime, I'd say that PatOnTrip probably misunderstood what happened to his friend. For one thing, acute malaria is cyclical, and a bad day is often followed directly by a pretty good day. That doesn't imply any sort of cure. In fact, the first time I had malaria I was convinced I was almost fully recovered on alternate days for about a week...before I almost died.

Furthermore, the right treatment can indeed yield noticeable improvement quite quickly, so it's perfectly possible that his friend was treated, then improved rapidly...none of which has to do with an actual vaccine.

Mark

They are testing a vaccine in Nigeria. It is not officially available yet on the market. That's what a local doctor told me at a clinic where they treat malaria.
You may want to ask about it in medical clinic in Ghana if they have it.

If you do get malaria, ask about a "quinine infusion". It seems the best option to recover quickly.

About my friend, he had falciparum malaria and typhoid. That's what the doctor told him. After receving a quinine infusion he was back on his feet in 18h. I was not there, I'm not a doctor and don't analyze blood. I just shared the info passed to me.
Make what you want out of it.

Patrick

How effective is a prophylaxe (taken Malarone here) by the way?
In the internet it says that the number one protection is to avoid getting bitten, while that is pretty clear to me how is the situation with the prophylaxe?

Is it a 50% Chance that you don't get ill at all or will you get ill anyway but just not as bad or what exactly is happening WITH a prophylaxe?

I have been in asia many times (Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam etc.) and didn't even think about taking a prophylaxe but this time in africa things are different somehow :innocent:

Quinine is often used as a treatment for acute malaria. An infusion is one method for administering a lot of quinine in a hurry. And as I said, treatments can be very effective in a short amount of time, but that's very different from a vaccine. A vaccine would be taken in advance to prevent getting malaria but would never be used as a treatment once you've already got the disease. This goes for other vaccines as well--you can be vaccinated against smallpox, polio or diphtheria, but should you actually contract one of these diseases you're not going to then benefit from getting vaccinated).

Quinine is not considered the best treatment for acute malaria, for reasons which are beyond my understanding and yours. In West Africa you can purchase Coartem (Artemether/lumefantrine) in pharmacies without a prescription, then carry it around and self-administer if the need arises. Check the dates carefully and try to choose a respectable pharmacy.

Again, there are a variety of vaccines in development or testing. As far as I know, none is proven to work reliably. Any or all may have serious side effects. And personnel in clinics can, and will, say whatever they wish without requiring that we take them at their word--or repeat what they say as if it represents "truth."

Malarone has been 100% effective for me personally, which is more than I can say for mefloquine. Trying not to get bitten is always a good idea, since the parasite responsible for malaria is always evolving resistance, sometimes faster than the CDC or WHO is aware. Moreover, malaria is just one of the diseases carried by mosquitos. Dengue, for example, looks remarkably unpleasant.

Hope that's helpful, and hope it illustrates the importance of taking everything you read or hear with a large grain of salt. This includes what I say.

Mark

Even if you take the prophylaxe, still try to do everything you can to not get bitten: use repellent, long sleeves and trousers and sleep under a mosquito net.

malaria
 

there is a good sticky
@ 4x4 communityforum.za

south african overlanders forum.