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I have been told that only 20 people per 500 000 contract malaria annually. That is worth taking the chance. There are 70 to 80 murders a day in this country. Who knows what the actual figures are! There is far more chance of being murdered in SA than contracting malaria.

Remember..... You are not here for a long time, you are here for a good time!

There's been all sorts of warnings about Larium in the UK so I can't take the risk, so its the more expensive Malarone for us. Local chemist quoted £104 for 36 tablets but the Travel nurse at our GPs said that its cheaper in the bigger supermarkets - I'll find out on Monday when I pick my prescription up. At least our doctor doesn't make a charge for private prescriptions yet - that's £20 saved

If I remember correctly - I paid R7.40 per Malanil and it was freely available from our local pharmacy. You would just need to check with them in advance as I'm told that because it's quite an expensive item, they do not have large supplies in stock - they order on prescription, which takes about a day.

There is a great article written by a GP in the latest Leisure Wheels magazine on all the different Malaria prophylaxis available (including their pro's and con's).

I had the most dreadful skin reaction to Mefiam which took 3 months to clear up so it is not something I will take again. I took doxycycline the last couple of visits to the park and did not notice any side effects.

Do you guys take anti-malaria tabs during the 'dryer' months too or do you take a chance?

It's funny how stuff that works for some has a totally different effect on others. My husband and I as well as the 2 kids have taken Mefliam with no side effects except for the horrid taste. The kids made a game of swallowing it by trying to get it down before the other one did! Can't find the till slip, but it cost us around R180 for the 4 of us, which the medical aid covered.

Most medical aids in South Africa pay for preventative medicines, makes sense really, less expensive to prevent it than to treat the disease.

Hey'ya,

Did some extensive research with the help of my sisters (both pharmacists) into the different types of anti malarials available. For those who suffer psychotic episodes from Larium and generics (and it's scary the amount of people who do) and who cannot afford to take Malanil (Malarone), the best alternative is a doxycycline based drug.

In South Africa there are two common medications, Doxymal and Doxytab. A warning to South Africans, the doctors usually prescribe Doxymal and then the pharmacist gives you the generic "Doxytab". What confused me was that it is made by the same company, Cipro.. something (Memory isn't the best).

After doing research I found out that they both have the same active ingredient (Doxycycline), but are not exactly the same. Doxytab is suppossed to be used as an antibiotic. Doxymal as the name suggests is to be used for malrial phrophylaxis and displays less chance of side effects than Doxytab.

I have tried both and it might just be pschosamatic but Doxytab only gave me the usual side effects of nausea and that is only if you are awake an hour or two after taking the tablet.

Hope this helps!

Prevention tip....Make sure you close all the windows of your car before nightfall.
If not, the mozies will go inside the car and tomorrow morning when you go for that early morning game drive, get zapped on the foot down there in the dark next to the brake pedal.
With the commotion of getting everyone into the car that early, we sometimes forget to put on the necessary lotions and sprays.......

Hi GP,

The In-laws spend a lot of money on "Peaceful Sleep" and Repellant Candles.

Though, they were very aware of the symptoms...

My parents also stayed in a small town ±30 km from Pafuri for a number of years. The people in those areas do not take malaria prophylactics. The GPs (not Guinea Pigs but doctors) in the so called "malaria areas" will as a rule test for malaria when any flu-like symptoms present in the patients in those areas. That is why it’s important when you present flu-like symptoms when returning from a malaria area to inform your GP of this fact. "City" doctors do not test for it routinely.

There's an interesting article on Malaria in the KNP and surrounding areas this week. For anyone who's interested, it can be found here:

http://www.lowvelder.co.za/show_story.asp?storyid=5611

Bwana & Twiga this is a warning for the both of you on your honeymoon. (I know because I did research for ours in Sept last year).

All malaria medication has the same effect as antibiotics. It cancels the effects of birth control (apprantely only the pill form, but I would not take the chance). So be carefull.

Also if you fall pregnant whilst on malaria medication, they will have to terminate the pregnancy, because the malaria medication causes defects on the unborn child.

Third, you can't fall pregnant for three months after taking malaria mediaction for the same reasons above.

Thus in summary, Bruce took the medication, because he has previously had malaria and apparenly is more suseptable to getting it.

I opted for not taking any and took all other preventative measures.

Some food for thought

One always wonders which version is the correct one to believe. All doctors seem to have their own ideas with regards to certain things, some will agree and others will differ. I guess one should just make up their own mind after talking to a couple of people. My travel clinic on the other hand, told me that the pill would NOT be cancelled so long as I did not take my pill and the malaria medication at the SAME time. They suggested I take my pill in the morning and the malaria medication in the evening or vice versa but they said if I take the malaria pill in the morning it might make me nauseous. The lady seemed very well-informed and had a very long discussion with me regarding the malaria prophylaxis. I have decided that I don't think it is necessary to take medication when we go in June as it is the dry season and I don't want to take medication unneccesarily. I mean, when we were there in October neither one of us got one bite! I'll just use preventative measures. Unless I'm being naive?

Some answers provided by my father:

Recommended reading for people who think about starting to use anti-malaria medicines, especially pregnant or breastfeeding women.

Lariam
Hereis the guide by Roche (the manufacturer) and here is the same file from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration site.

Malarone
Glaxo Smith Kline has issued this Guide. As already stated in this thread it is far more expensive then Lariam.
Malarone can not be used during the pregnancy! No indications found that it cancels the effects of the pill.

Malaria in general
The U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases, Division of Parasitic Diseases has this FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) on their site, which links to other places on their site.
For South Africa specific info click here.

Ask yourself

1. Is the risk to the baby worth it?;
2. Why not avoid the malaria region, or go in a malaria free period?;
3. Do you want to use medicines in the early pregnancy? (Remember Softenon?)

Remember that it will take weeks for the medicine to exit your system completely....

Although Malarone (Melanil) is quite expensive I think it is worth the money. We took Malarone on holidays usually three to four weeks ( depending on the length of the stay )and never had any problems or severe side effect. But it is quite expensive.Here in Germany you pay around 52-55 Euros for a paket of 12 pills.But as I mentioned earlier it's worth the money.