Mr Malaria

Ikuru

And dont feed the Mogwai after Midnight or it will turn in to a bloody Gremlin and kill you.

Great post.

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edwardseco

I saw one or rather it saw me on a lousy short trip..

amogasiddhi

See? All you'll ever get on a website forum is opinions and lots of them with a smattering of opinion, a side order of opinion and some sauteed opinion for good measure. The desert menu is frosted opinion followed by a nice hot mug of opinion.

So 'who do you agree with?' would be another possible route for a 'poll' such as this. It does however depend upon personal experience and if that is filled with people scaring the shit out of you as regards such issues and nothing else, then you're bound to be popping pills all the way. If you're like me, then you'll do what you think is best for you and that, I believe, is what the original question was based on. Oh, and if you also think that the answer will be the one you should choose, then go ahead but please don't lecture me about what I choose to choose to do just because you think you have 'the answer'. If it were that simple, then these drugs would be free.

Me? I'm of the opinion that no matter what you do or who you listen to that only you will be affected by your opinions (nothing exists separate from the mind) so if you really do expect to find 'the answer' by looking for it on a web forum, take the blue pill and if you fancy your chances with a dreadlocked woman take the red pill. Either way, you make the choice and you get the result.
I do have one question though. Why can't people in the countries where Malaria is so apparently prevalent afford to buy so-called 'anti-malarials'? Nobody seems to spend very long dealing with that one, instead preferring to be polite and line-towingly obnoxious. How obnoxious do you think it needs to be for those who shout loudest to get their way? Shame nobody counts the poor people who have no voice and whose fate is to suffer the endless results of mindless meetings between bent politicians and deals done behind closed doors with major pharmaceuticals.
You choose.

Rob_The_Pom

Pot meet kettle.
I always thought forums were for giving opinions and exchanging ideas.
I just don't why you need to put all this anger into your posts.

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Wullah

No pills.
Net in bed, some Deet to clothes and shoes.

machadinha

Because the existing medication isn't suitable for extended use.

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amogasiddhi

So then why isn't it readily available for those who are most likely to be bitten by Malarial moquitos? ie: People such as agricultural workers, people who sleep outside in rural areas......like my Mother and her family used to do back in Colonial times....they don't know anyone out of 3 generations of Brits/ Anglo indians who lived there and even contracted Malaria. Why can't 'field hospitals' have enormous quantities of these wonderful cures for Malaria and why is it still so damn expensive, even for us 'affluent westerners'? Usual Answer: 'Because the money is needed for research'. Alternative answer: Because the directors of drug producing companies fly about in Helicopters between being chauffer driven about in Mercs and sitting in leather clad offices while having meetings about stuff because they have to do something don't they. Less cynical answer: ...to be confirmed.

Rob, you know how people bang on about corruption in India, well The Taj Corp Ltd PLC or whatever they're known as, made US$4.1 MILLION from ticket sales to the Taj alone (not including Red Fort or any other 'attraction'). Now i'm guessing that this wasn't hugely contributed to by it's Indian visitors who have to pay 25 rupees while the rest (including Nepalese) pays 750....that's SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY RUPEES, just to get in. It strikes me that the money isn't going towards slapping paint on the Taj or cutting the grass but as The Hindustan Times reported, '...nobody knows where the money is going'. My guess is that it's not going towards helping the poor buggers living on the street right outside the Taj or for the re-erection of it's leaning tower or anything like it but i'll bet a pound to a pinch of shit that El Presidente Manmohan 'alms for an ex-leppar' Singh and his bent bureaucrats are seeing some of it.
It's not anger Rob it's frustration. While 'outsiders' who also keep India's economy buoyant, whine on about what they should take or buy before they go, they miss a very important point and that is that no matter what they think, take or leave behind, they will be lining the pockets of every bent copper, politician and political pimp in the land when they spend a single rupee on visiting what was intended to be a mausoleum for the dead wife of a long since dead king. It's not a tourist attraction, it's a mausoleum and it was built facing 'the wrong way' because he didn't want it to be used as a Mosque and my guess is that he didn't fancy the idea of queues of people wandering about gawping at it after paying 750 Rs for a ticket which states that it only costs 500 Rs.
I repeat, Sheesh! India isn't there for tourists, it's a living place, jam-packed with Indians and their lives. Exactly what this obsession with going to a place where you fear for your life so much that you'll take any drug known to man, just to be able to go there, is all about I don't know. What is it that causes people to think 'I know, i'll get an armful of jabs, some pills and go buy some stuff in India'. Some call it tourism, I call it lining the pockets of corruption and evil. There's a plan for Bush if ever there was one, stamp out tourism to places which can't sustain their own population by themselves. Reliance on anything is utter nonsense. Reliance on tourism is madness. Tourism is food for the corrupt.

See what i mean? If you think you're at risk from Malaria then even the little white pills which cost you so much won't stop you from contracting it but as many a traveller has noticed, they stop taking their pills, don't get Malaria, and get on with experiencing India rather than trying to avoid it. There are so many variations of statistics of how many people came back to England with Malaria, how many died, nothing about how many didn't take anything and didn't die, about how much is being spent each year in giving aid to those most at risk (travellers are least at risk as they have the ability to buy repellant, nets, clothing, avoiding areas where Malaria is more likely to be prevalent, not sleep outside etc etc etc) Anyone ever met a businessman who flew to Mumbai for a few days and got Malaria? Or Stayed in Goa for 2 weeks and came home and died from it? These people count as a statistic and yet they are never mentioned in any statistics. So what about the '3.1 Billion population of India' if that figure is questionable then so is the guestimate of people who have contracted Malaria. It's what everyone seems to base their stats on. It's all about money and more money.

PS: If you fancy doing some good while you're in India, then go to a hospital with a children's ward in it, with some balloons and watch their little faces light up when you make an arse of yourself by blowing them up and giving them away for free. Joy such as this cannot be traded, bought, sold or demanded but it can be given and it's a gift.

PPS: They don't really get the concept of red noses or funny hair as the parents tend to get a little freaked out. Sheesh!

PPPS: Take pills or don't but don't base your final judgement on whatever is said in a web forum as that would be very silly indeed.

PPPS: I still don't have Malaria or any symptoms and I was recently in some very rural places for most of my two months in India. Even with repellants and other paraphenalia, I was being bitten and nothing, nada, nische, niente. (i'm in danger of getting a bit 'Dead Parrot Sketch' about this so i'm going).

shpatel

Maybe you're heterozygous for the sickle cell gene(maybe you have some African or even Asian blood in your ancestry that you don't know about)
and thus you can't acquire Malaria.

But seriously, the major reason for taking the pills is for the prevention of Malaria or even for the treatment of it if it is contracted. It's just like taking antibiotics for that terrible stomach ache you get. And I'm sure you've taken antibiotics in your lifetime. How about that Polio shot you received when you were born? You see, all these breakthroughs in medicine are whats allowing humans to increase their life span.

It's just not worth taking a chance of acquiring it. And I'm not charging you any money for my medical advice. And yes the money you pay for the medicine is going towards the research of the drug and marketing. But that's life.

But in the end, to each his own

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Merchant

This is so true. Don't let the high-spirited nature of this post prevent you from noting that much of it is quite smart.

Wullah

Maybe it is all about keeping things under your control. If you take pills, malaria is out of list of dangers in India.
I believe in destiny and that is good travel partner in India. And you can learn it more there; I think that is why local people are so good in crossing the roads
And I dont mean that you should sleep naked under the stars (under the net, that is cool) because you get malaria if that is ment to, dont have to be stupid. But having all chemicals to your body in your lifetime is risky too.

shpatel

Wullah I agree with you. I hope everyone stays safe in India by using their common sense. Good luck everyone whichever path you choose.

dani

Wullah, how do you know that it's not your destiny to take the pills??

monkgonemad

hi vv:

i think you are correct and your advice is warranted. to newbies in malarial zone -if you dont have a clue how to protect yourself, id be a good idea to use meds. on pt2 this is only a technical arguement -in that the parasite must really take hold in your system and those with good immune systems would be expected to fend off one bite. as someone who has lived and traveled in cambodia, lao, myanmar and malarial thailand and indonesia -id most crtainly have had the bug.

ps: many meds are resistant and have reactions -so be careful what you take. best just to educate yourself and always follow your rules of hygene and protection.

Wullah

Hmm.. Do I have to answer?
yep, then I would be interested of meds!!

Nick-H

This is my personal opinion and I would hate to offend anyone's, err, religious sensibilities, but in my opinion anyone who treats whether they get malaria or not as a matter of destiny is as stupid as someone who doesn't believe in driving well because if they are going to die, or kill someone else, well, it's all just destiny...

The number of people that die worldwide from maleria would seem to suggest that it takes a lot more than a reasonably healthy immune system to resist it. The fact that it is not restricted to visitors would suggest that immunity is far from automatic.

It is for each person to review the risk of malaria, the risk of any specific drug. I have been advised by a local doctor that there is maleria here, that it is not a resistant strain, and I will take the medicine that he recommends. In the past I've used homeopathy, and sometimes nothing.

That's just me, others may prefer divination, meditation or prayer.

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