Which anti-malarial for 1 yr?

machadinha

That sounds reassuring

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Nick-H

Why are you so sure? Ayurvedic medicine is different, not perfect. It uses lots of poisons, and some people have suffered harm or even death due to badly prescribed or badly manufactured remedies.

If there is a good ayurvedic preventative/cure for malaria, then tell us. Its perfectly possible; the world's latest (?) malaria wonder drug comes from Chinese herbal medical research.

But guesses and assumptions are no good to us on this important subject.

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bhakti23

none of those is worth taking!
1 is cost prohibitive for a year
2 is evil and has nasty side effects
3 is just a sledgehammer antibiotic that will mess up your whole system.

just be careful and use mosquito nets and repellent. if you really go deep into the jungle during the rainy season then you can take something temporarily if you really want (i wouldn't even do that). you really don't need anything. the docs recommend it but they're just covering themselves.
the danger of malaria is very overrated.

1st hand experience.

machadinha

As have the majority of some 28,071 other members to date.

The problem of course is not what happens if you're not affected and how you went about it and what that may or may not prove (nothing at all if you ask me), but what if you are.

Welcome to IndiaMike, but please don't mix up personal predilections with sober medical or other safety advice. Anyway and as must be clear again, as it must be from every other malaria thread: Everyone has their own approach, so it won't tell you much. Speak to professionals, whomever you may trust.

Nick-H

1. My anti-malarial treatment for six months was so cheap you wouldn't even notice it.

2. It wasn't evil and it had no side effects at all.

3. It wasn't even an anti-biotic.

Your first-hand experience is that you didn't catch malaria. I can say the same --- it proves nothing, except that we didn't catch malaria!

Millions of people die every year from malaria. However, the danger in this part of India may indeed be over-rated. This is part of my reason for suggesting local advice, rather than advice based on some world database information.

That you don't really need anything is, probably, actually true, regardless of our own personal opinions and prejudices. Advice for this part of the world, depending on where you get it, is moving towards risk reduction, diagnosis and treatment, rather than prophylaxis. Yes, I agree with what you say, it's just your reasons I disagree with!

I do wonder, though, after the advice not to take antimalarials, at the advice to use repellent ---every day? Some feel that that is a needless exposure to possibly harmful chemicals too, and, in practical terms, it just doesn't happen!

I can remember to apply repellent every day for a two-week holiday, but living here is another matter. Maybe I remember if I have to sit outside for an evening. Ordinary days around the house, I just get bitten. And that is with net on the windows, screens on the doors and a bednet.

By the way... it isn't Chennai, but it is somewhere that some people go on a trip from Chennai: Andoman Islands... currently very bad for malaria.

edwardseco

Yes, I too was laughing at the presumption implied in the statement. I had the big M in an area said to be low risk (its a b****) and now my sis in law rigorously prescribes Doxy for the family. For long term its harder to say. Malarone is the least problematic but it costs plenty even if you get it from Canadian mail order pharmacies. Artemesinin is the newest but 2/3rds of the supply is said to be fake. Gotta love those Chinese humanitarians. Long term I have gone without. One comment for that is that the suggestion to self medicate ignores that there are other things that cause the symptoms (don't ask I have little or no memory of the period)! And there are different varieties of malaria. Where there are cheap, abundantly available, and excellent medical resources only a fool would self-medicate. Nick's experience is a great case in point, both times tested negativo. Of the two adult forens I have known to die of disease in India one was a self medication case..

machadinha

Yes; I always loved my little tropical health book (that I was happy for carrying all the same) for describing the symptoms of just about every disease ranging from the quite innocent to the acutely lethal as having something to do with a sniffle and a light fever or headache and a rash or ache here or there (oh, and diarrhea of course, far from unusual owing to the prevalent use of chillies in cooking).

This even makes seeking adequate medical attention in case of symptoms which is my normal advice not at all as easy as it sounds, after all you don't wanna be running to the doc's every time you catch a cold (far from unlikely with all those fans and aircos and open train windows around in the heat). Pair that with having to act in a matter of three days or so I believe with (some of) the malaria strains prevalent in India, and one can easily see how it all becomes a little complicated.

ps I've never taken antimalarials btw (or gave up on them after a first short try rather, not even because of adverse effects, I just felt it was unnecessary then and there). But that was my decision, and my own risk to take, and I wouldn't want to advocate it.

It is a very decent question btw, as for a 1-year stint it does indeed throw up a bunch of other concerns than to the short-term holidaymaker. And even for the latter it's a common and good question of course; it's just that we don't have the answer, or we would already have it in animated neon letters on the front page.

wonderwomanusa

I'm sure, given the nature of Western pharmaceutical companies, if ayurvedic ingredients were effective, we'd have a class of anti-malarials that included these.

70s-80s overlander

For South India, there is a fairly comprehensive website on malaria maintained by a Dr. Kakkilaya. No, I do not know him in person. Yes, he did respond to my e-mail in an intelligent fashion. Apparently he is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the K.S. Hegde Medical Academy in Mangalore. The rest you will have to judge for yourself. His main website is: http://www.malariasite.com/

Dr. B. Srinivas Kakkilaya M.D.
Light House Polyclinic, Light House Hill Road, Mangalore-575001 [on the coast of Karnataka State]

Keep us posted about what you learn and finally decide.

Nick-H

That site looks interesting, thanks.

Re self-medication for malaria: seems to me to be one of the most absurd and ridiculous ideas I ever heard!

Generally speaking, if one would self-prescribe at home, then do so elsewhere in the world; no point in running to a doctor for every sore throat or bruised toe, although some might do. Why there is a prevalent attitude of not wanting to set foot in a Indian doctor's clinic, but rather carrying around a bag of drugs, I can't understand. I'm not shouting at anyone on this thread, but (perhaps I got up too early) I just have to shout here: People, we have doctors, we have hospitals, we have drugs; do you think you are visiting the jungle? Of course, for those who are visiting 'the jungle' or equivalent, that is a different kind of travelling, and different rules apply.

Repeating myself: self-prescription for malaria is ridiculous. Nothing short of laughable. You probably have the flu.

Even a doctor can often only suspect it, and it must be confirmed by tests. If he suspects it strongly enough, he will (some authorities say should) start treating you as if you do have malaria immediately; one strain of malaria can kill you within the week.

capt_mahajan

Connected anecdote to Nick's post: Years ago, folks in the US- all Indian educated doctors, btw- were jumping up and down asking for my sick father in law to be sent there for medical treatment.

Then I referred them to an American medical website, which said that the doctor he was seeing in Hyderabad was reputedly one of the best in South/SE Asia, and was teaching part-time in Japan. Had it been an Indian medical website, nobody would have believed in it.

A good doctor is a good doctor anywhere. And decent Indian medical facilities, for those who can afford them, are far from lousy. Full stop.

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dhans

You're right. Advice given by the Netherlands health authorities based on advice from the World Health Organisation.

Had the mods not decided to automatically delete posts about malaria an paris hilton .

Hans

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bips

ref:ayurvedic anti malarials, last time i was in India i was told by pharmacies that this is good anti malaria tablet, sudarshan ghanvati I did use it, no side effects. I personally think they are good

Piper

To heck with all of these; go with regular doses of gin & tonic or vodka & tonic. Tonic contains quinine (active ingredient in anti-malarials) and if you still end up getting it, you may be drunk so perhaps you won't care!

capt_mahajan