GOA - anti malaria pills needed?

machadinha

Hm. Reading around I ran into prognoses of figures worldwide doubling over the coming decades.

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tyrefire

Is there a link - I'd be intrested on reading about that - I wonder what the key reasons for the acceleration are?

York Stiller

True, and even worse: The new populations of mosquitos (or of course it´s virus) are prognosticated to be resistent against the well known effective medicals the pharma industry designed.

machadinha

<cross-posted>

I'm generally very critical of Wikipedia, but this looks to be a decent article, with plenty of sources in its footnotes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaria

As I said here or elsewhere, I used to have a link to some group who were critically following research in the field. I've lost it though, and they're hard to find back with all the hits you get. But of course some people are on top of that.

York Stiller

The key reasons, as far as I know, are to find in humans and their behaviours. Wherever people built new houses and whole settlements, they change the landscape and leave enough room for water to cumulate in puddles, ditches, cullis´, barrels - the ideal places for mosquitos to breed. Besides illegal rubbish dumps and deserted properties with nobody taking care of the buildings, and you have the perfect mosquito breeding.

the three b's

Apparently there were small number of fatalities (all Scandinavians strangely enough,) due to the presence of the falciparum strain in Northern Goa 2006-2007, and it's still there. This one is a nasty which needs a combination treatment for prevention, NOT just malarone. Ironically the treatment is a hell of a lot cheaper but more of a regimen. As the sages have already said, consult the pros.

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dhans

But I cannot resist answering, as the subject is too important to deal with it along the lines "...I went to India, I did not get malaria, so it is no problem.....

Let’s start with a disclaimer; the internet is not meant for individual health advice, so everything written here is not meant as specific advice and should not replace the advice of your own physician. It may help you to have an informed discussion with your GP. If your GP is too general seek advice from a specialist, e.g. someone at your national centre for tropical health, or some place like that.

As for malaria: Malaria kills!

From the World Health Organisation:www.who.int

Epidemiological situation (2005)

• Malaria is still major health problem in India. North-Eastern states, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Gujarat, Maharastra, Goa and Madhya Pradesh contributing most of the malaria Cases where as Assam, orissa and west Bengal are contributing the most to malaria mortality.
  
• Population in malarious areas: 1044.7 million
  
• Number reported death due to malaria : 963
  
• No. of reported malaria cases: 1,817,093
  
• No. of Probable malaria cases : N.A
  
• Around 80% of malaria cases derived from forest related areas and along the border with Myanmar and India where malaria is highly endemic.
  
• P.falciparum Percentage : 44.3%

Prevention is the key, so prevent being bitten using long-sleeved clothes and bed nets after dark. Use mosquito repellent. DEET-based repellants need to be used with caution in those under age 2 -- please ask your travel clinic for specific advice in this regard. Mefloquine, atovaquone-proguanil or Proguanil hydrochloride (Paludrine) are at the moment the recommended agents for malaria prophylaxis. The dose varies by weight. Ask your physician!


Hans

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the three b's

'nuff said' I think

dhans

Probably never on this subject .

Hans

Nick-H

The questions have been asked, and answered. One is far more likely to die of old age, or boredom, or suffer insanity as a result of reading all the threads on this topic.

Even the advice given by different authorities varies, and no, the fact that something calls itself the 'World' something-or-other doesn't necessarily make its advice better than some other reputed organisation.

The trouble is, people keep asking because (apart from those that can't be bothered to find out what's available already), they hope that, somehow, the answer to their question will be different.

It's tedious.

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edwardseco

The problem is you keep learning new twists to it. The gender specific issues for Doxycycline and Lariam surprised me..