Malaria pills

Am departing soon for a long stay (at least a year) in India and SE Asia and would be really interested to hear other people's stories/advice about Malaria Pills - which ones to take, side-effects, cost of buying them in India as opposed to in the UK, effectiveness of them at all...................?
Thanks

There is a lot of information and opinions about Malaria prevention and the various medications and side-effects in some older threads in the Health and well being section -- be sure to set the thread view to at least the past year (the options are at the bottom of the page).

Here is one such thread, but there are a lot more:

Malaria

Yes I see there is a whole wealth of discussion on the subject so will trawl through the archives
Thanks!

I don't think I'd like to take any of the current meds for an entire year.... but I'd be meticulous about using DEET-containing repellant and nets and do my best to avoid being bitten.

I think I did take chloroquine for a year once, and didn't notice any ill effects...but the Indian malaria has become resistant to cholorquine so different drugs are needed.

I use a new combination from Proguanil und Atovaquone, the name is "Malarone". Usage for "standby" AND "prophylaxis". And no significant side effects!

MALARONE is an antimalarial shown to be effective for both prevention and treatment of malaria caused by P falciparum, the parasite responsible for the majority of deaths due to the disease. MALARONE is a fixed-dose combination of atovaquone and proguanil hydrochloride. Individually atovaquone and proguanil have different mechanisms of action such that when combined, they have a synergistic effect with greater efficacy than either agent alone.


2. How does the drug work?
Both atovaquone and proguanil interfere with the reproduction of the malaria parasite, but they interfere at different points in the process. Because they interfere with parasite reproduction in two different ways, they are more effective together than either alone at killing parasites in the blood. MALARONE operates in the blood by penetrating the red blood cells in which the parasite resides. Once the drug penetrates the parasite, atovaquone disrupts the biochemical pathway called the electron transport chain, which is an essential biochemical path for survival of the organism. Proguanil attacks another essential pathway at a different point. MALARONE interrupts the ability of the parasite to reproduce, and the parasite dies.


The bad news are, Malarone is pretty expensive but you have to take the pills for one week after return only.

Link Malarone

Thanks for your advice!! The problem is we are going for 6 months and Malarone is only licensed to take for a maximum of 1 month - that's what my doctor said. My doctor has recommended that I take Proguanil and chloroqine - do you have any experience of taking these? side effects etc. I can't really take doxyclycline either as am on the contraceptive pill and antibiotics interfere with the effectiveness of this.......

sorry hlb,
iam not that expert (besides malarone cause of my info status), better look for advice at a tropic vaccine institute...

I came down with Vivax Malaria last month and was very sick... this was approximately eight months after I left India. Yes, it's entirely possible to be infected with this strain of the virus and carry it in your body for years before it hits you. As there are only a few hundred cases of malaria in Canada each year, my doctors didn't even think to check for it when I became very ill.

I took chloroquine and proguanil for the first month of my travels, but I found chloroquine gave me severe headaches so I stopped taking both entirely. I traveled for a year. The only thing I'd do differently next time is bring even more bug spray, put it on earlier (such as at 5pm each day - the malaria mozzies come out early!) and continue to use my mosquito net. Best of luck to you, and don't get malaria because it sucks and you'll feel like you're on your deathbed.

this time I'll use my mosquito net too. I impregnate it with a liquid called "NoBite" and it lasts until 3 monthes additional to my skin treatment. so my fight back will be successful, I hope.