Which anti-malarial for 1 yr?

edwardseco

Typhoid, you have my respect for going through that..

Nick-H

Yep... tropical doctors know best about tropical diseases!

Although I think I'd have some issues with BenJay's monk. Some very confused information there. Malaria can be cured; taking any compound, herbal or otherwise, to 'suppress the symptoms' doesn't sound right at all.

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BenJay

sorry, that's not tinaspora cordifolia but tinaspora crispa.

BenJay

The herb that 'suppresses the symptoms' was just an optional extra, and it doesn't just suppress it also strengthens your immune system - I observed this on myself by how fast my body would react to a mosquito or horse fly bite when I'd been taking this for a week - very quickly swell up big and red and very quickly go down again. He wasn't suggesting at all that you only take this and don't use conventional medicines as well when necessary.

The main point from Ven Dhirapannyo was that because most of the remaining strains of malaria are quite resistant to antibiotics, taking one antibiotic as prophelaxis is worse than pointless because it doesn't totally stop you getting malaria and it makes it impossible to use that antibiotic in the combination of antibiotics that they now need to use to treat malaria.

Which bit did you think was confused?

The other thing to mention is that the nurse I saw in the UK just looked at her wall chart of which countries have malaria and it included Thailand so she made me take the expensive pills with me, but actually very few areas in Thailand still have malaria - basically only remote border regions, particularly bordering poorer countries where there are more carriers of the disease. You have to have a person carrying malaria within a mosquito's flying distance in order to get it.

The place I stayed that used to have malaria almost certainly doesn't anymore because the Burmese mining village that was the source of people carrying malaria (because they were too poor to afford proper treatment) has gone because the mine closed. There's now no village or source of carriers within the flying distance of a mosquito, so it's almost certainly safe.

Nick-H

Isn't there only one antibiotic prescribed as an antimalarial (Doxy). It would seem that that it still effective. In fact, even the now very old Proguinil (spelling?) and Chloroquine are effective in many places. Perhaps the prescription of more modern drugs has something to do with profit!

However, yes, I'm sure the prescription of herbs by a qualified practitioner is worthwhile. Interesting to see that the world's new malaria wonder drug is herbal --- and has been used by the Chinese for thousands of years!

One's reaction to mosquito bites changes as the body becomes used to them. Many people who claim not to be bitten by mosquitoes are wrong: they are bitten, but just don't notice. This can give a false sense of security that they are not at risk of malaria!

Of course, one has to be bitten to acquire this low reaction . And it can take years; my doc told me it happens eventually.

I've tried homoeopathy for this, without success; I guess I just have to be patient.

BenJay

To clarify for the third time, according to the doc I learnt from, for resistant strains of malaria none of the drugs individually are 100% effective anymore, you have to take a combination.

Doxycyclin is relatively very effective, but against resistant strain malaria it's not enough alone, you have to take a cocktail.

I was under the impression that the other anti-malarials were also basically antibiotics, but either way the point is that for resistant strain malaria none of the drugs work individually anymore. So you're better of taking precautions against getting bitten, and if you get symptoms get a blood test asap and then they'll tell you exactly which combination of drugs to take for the specific strain you've got.

I'm not going to reply to this thread anymore because I get the feeling you're not really reading what I'm writing anyway.

federica

My experience was the opposite: after several months I got an allergy against Indian mosquitoes. Big red spots after being bitten

Nick-H

Been there so many, many, many times --- I thnk I've built up an immunity against IndiaMike malaria threads

vmehra24

*The offical US Govt position on vitamin A

Malaria (supportive agent)* Limited research suggests that vitamin A may reduce fever, morbidity, and parasite blood levels in patients with malaria (/ Plasmodium falciparum / infection). However, there is a lack of evidence suggesting that vitamin A is equivalent or superior to well-established drug therapies used for the prevention or treatment of malaria. Patients with malaria or living/traveling in endemic areas should speak with a physician about appropriate measures--


> From

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/d...-vitamina.html

edwardseco

The only old monk I have faith in comes in a bottle.

I hear you..

GerardKelly

That's great for you, but the needs of foreign travelers are best addressed at home by a travel medicine professional. I still think that it is important to seek out a local doctor who is aware of the needs of foreigners from the perspective of not being local. We are more likely to die from malaria than locals, so we need to be treated more aggressively than locals. We get more ill more quickly, and need to be treated differently. How many locals regularly get severe diarrhea while in India? How many foreign travelers get bacterial food poisoning and diarrhea in India? OP should see his doctor and if not comfortable with dealing with travel related illnesses, should see a travel medicine specialist ... who by nature will know more about travel-related medical problems of foreigners than local Indian doctors. Again OP, I would avoid advice that begins with ... "I never got this ... or ... I tried this ... and it should work for you". Hope this helps, and again posted without malice. Its my opinion, so let me have one, Mr. Moderator.

dhans

As we said before, malaria threads and Paris H should be banned .....

Hans (takes profylaxe when in India)

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Nick-H

For the visitor, yes; especially as anti-malarials should really be started before the trip.

I think the salient words here are travellers/visitors (rather than longer-term residents), and to that extent we are at cross-purposes. Although we may still disagree on some details, I don't think we really have an argument on the basics: the visitor should check out the situation before arrival, and, if, after taking qualified opinion, anti-malarials are considered necessary, they should be started in good time.

A person may be told that anti-malarials are not necessary for the area they intend to visit. Advice varies quite a lot depending on who is being asked in what country. But I'd absolutely agree that the decision should be informed.

That I'm not so sure about. Yes, of course there are the immune and the partially immune among the local population, but, leaving them out, the million-plus (worldwide) people that die of malaria are not, by majority, going to be tourists, nor is malaria (excepting the strain that affects the brain) necessarily going to kill a tourist quickly. Interestingly, though somewhat tangentially, those who think they are immune, but have lost their immunity through many years away from India are a big-risk group.


Lots, probably; diarrhoea again, is a big killer on a world-wide basis. Out of the two of us, the one who has the worst attack of food-poisoning over the last three years is my Chennai-native wife. However, the difference between the two of us, and a travelling visitor is that (although we don't use it as drinking water) a few drops of our tap water will not make us ill; our systems are well-used to its particular bugs. After a two-year absence, one Indian family I know where in hospital the day after returning to their own house and drinking their own water as they had for decades: they were told they had simply lost the appropriate immunity.

On this I disagree. Most tummy upsets are minor, even though they may be unpleasant, they are short-lived. They certainly can't be diagnosed before the event, and (I'm not suggesting you are recommending this) I really disagree with travelling with a boxful of antibiotics and swallowing a handful at the first sign of the runs. If it lasts more than a day or two, and/or there are other severe symptoms too, a visit to the doctor is definitely the best thing, and all the experience and medication needed will be available. The chances of seeing a good or a bad doctor are probably about the same as they are anywhere in the world, and, unless one is very unlucky, the local knowledge should certainly be the best. If a doc doesn't know the difference between traveller's tummy and something more serious, then you picked a duff one!

On this one, the consequences are likely to be not so serious as the opposit experience in the foreign country, where advice to go home, rest, come back in a week if the fever hasn't gone, has led to deaths from malaria. At least if the Indian doc wrongly diagnoses something more serious, the worst is that one swallows those antibiotics one might have taken anyway!

You mean you have proof that wrapping a sprig of lavender around the left big toe is not an absolute protection against malaria?

Seriously, couldn't agree more. The only thing any of those statements prove is that that particular person has, so far, not contracted malaria. You will see enough unadulterated crap posted to our all-too-many malaria threads to make you seriously ill!

The long-termer, getting back to this particular thread, would probably be best advised to take care of his first few months before arrival. After that, I'd suggest local advice --- and the very best medical advice is easily available. Whilst cheaper ways of obtaining it are there, the newcomer can visit Apollo or equivalent private hospital in their city and talk to internationally-qualified and internationally-experienced doctors with local knowledge; best of both worlds.

They may also be saved a great deal of money: in my case, when here, initially for six months, I was told by my doc that chloroquine* once a week was fine for this area --- cost insignificant. Once settled here for the indefinite, he advised taking nothing.

No problem; if you think I'm talking rubbish, please do say so! I think they call it a Full and frank exchange of views

My only complaint is the suggestion that Indian docs are less able to deal with the traveller or foreigner. As I have said, I speak from experience in saying that that is not the case.

*Later addition. This was three years ago; please do not consider it as current local advice for Chennai!

edwardseco

Hate to sound like one of the cheer leaders but my experience is similar. I would suggest that they are much better than doctors who rarely practice tropical medicine. One of my friends brought back his 2 year old for treatment in the US. It is one of my saddest memories attending the funeral of my son's playmate..

Another sad memory this time of my sister in law's 4 year old. I wonder at how removed tourists are from Indian daily life..

Nick-H

Miles!

Again, I speak from experience of my own tourist days. My removal from that daily life was only lessened by having friends in India.

Heck, I'm still removed from much of the nitty gritty of it! I do get the translation, though, from Mrs. N...