malarone yes or not?

mahemia

well I've spend the whole afternoon reading threads about malaria on IM. I feel just like before doing it;-)! Too much opinions, too many information...

My trip to India will be this: (22jul)Delhi-Agra-Delhi-Haridwar-Shimla-KalPa-Shimla-Delhi(5ag)

I went to the vacunation department of my city hospital 20 days ago and, about malaria, the 2 doctors who were with me had different opinions!!

One told me take nothing. The other one told me to take malarone. As I desired, both said.

If sb, knowing my route and its usual climate, can advice me in one way or the other, I'll appreciate it A LOT.

Regards

Nick-H

So you started another one!

But I do sympathise: our stock answer, as you've probably seen, is that an internet forum is no substitute for proper medical advice --- which you got and it disagrees with itself!

You might have seen, in other threads, links to this (PDF) It is the British National Health guidelines for doctors advising travellers about Malaria. It might help you decide.

Of course, a similar document may be available from your own country's health authority... and it might not agree!

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dumpy

Big subject.

Only thing I can offer is the fact that there are other cheaaper alternatives that are just as preventative as Malarone.

Malarone has the least recorded side effects.

devorenm

According to the US CDC you should take prohpylactic malaria medication anywhere in India with the exception of some places in Himachal. My personal opinion is that your chances of getting it are very slim, but if you do get it your trip will be ruined and you will be very very ill. For a 3 week trip I wouldn't risk it, and I would be super anal about what you eat and drink as well, getting sick for a week in a 6 month stay is bad but being sick for a week of a 3 month stay would be awful.

As I recall you have 3 choices for malaria prophylaxis in India, Doxycycline, Lariam, and Malerone. Depending on where you are travelling (are you going to anywhere else in SE Asia while you are abroad? Thailand maybe where doxy is no good anymore)dicates which are appropriate. Doxy is cheap as dirt, not as effective as the other two in certain areas and will give you yeast infections (if applicable). Lariam is once weekly, about 7 USD a pill (without insurance) and is generally safe but there have been reports of it causing lucid dreams (as it did to me) as well as some more serious (and very rare) psychological side effects. Malerone has the fewest side effects but must be taken everyday and costs nearly 100 USD a week without insurance.

Seriously though, if you do feel like maleria prohylaxis is something that you want to do see a physician and discuss the the options, it wouldn't hurt to bring along your respective countries reccomendations for drugs/regions as well unless your going to a travel physician who should have them.

edwardseco

For short visits Malarone works best. Longer visits are too expensive for Malarone (for me at least). I use Doxy very happily. However, none of these should be used without considerable knowledge of how to take them and what can go wrong..

XianMD

I do not know if you have left yet or not but I started my malarone regiment today. There is a mildly bitter taste in the mouth for maybe 40 minutes after ingesting the medicine but other than that, no real side effects (for me). I still went running maybe 6 hours after ingesting the medicine and there hasn't seemed to be any changes that I can notice. While I understand that the medicines side effects can be different for everyone, I just wanted to let you know that so far it is fine for me.

In addition, it seems like we have almost identical travel plans. I am also planning on staying at the Haveli Hari Ganga in Haridwar the night of the 25th and then making my way up to the VOF and mana village from there. If you see a 21 year old chinese kid sitting in the lobby that night, feel free to come over and introduce yourself.

Xian