Kenya & Malaria

Advise needed for diving at watamu. Anyone recommend which tablet worked
best for you and any side effects. I know mefloquine is NOT recommended and
that I need a prescription from my doc.
TIA

"peter lucy" <Peter.Lucy@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message news:<415c7dfd$0$15884$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.co m>...
> Advise needed for diving at watamu. Anyone recommend which tablet worked
> best for you and any side effects. I know mefloquine is NOT recommended and
> that I need a prescription from my doc.
> TIA

Best info here:

https://www.dansa.org/medical/malaria_prev.htm

There are different strains of malaria and different medications are
recommended depending on where you go. For trips to northern Namibia,
Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, etc most people I know use doxycycline.

Upside: it's cheap, you only have to start the day before you enter
the area and continue for thirty days after you leave.

Downside: you have to take a tab every day and WATCH OUT for
hypersensitivity to sunlight unless you're OK with looking like a
banana.

rgds
monty

I am leaving for Kenya next Friday.. I m taking Doxycycline and have
been told to start today - i.e. 1 week prior, while I am there, plus for
4 weeks after. Thats 49 days, hence a 50 tablet packet.

It's one a day and stay out of direct sunlight as best as possible, due
to additional sensitivity to the sun. Recommended SPF 30 MINIMUM..

Information current as at 2 days ago.

Regards

Wilbo


--
wilbo

Cheers,

Wilbo.
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"peter lucy" <Peter.Lucy@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:415c7dfd$0$15884$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.com ...
> Advise needed for diving at watamu. Anyone recommend which tablet worked
> best for you and any side effects. I know mefloquine is NOT recommended
and
> that I need a prescription from my doc.
> TIA
>
>
Mefloquine = Larium? I had side effects (depression) from this but loads of
people dont (but I dont know if diving is an extra conrta-indicator).
Malarone is now available in UK - but its expensive. However, you start 2
days before arriving and only go on for 1 week after leaving. One tablet a
day.
I didnt fancy doxycycline as I'm allergic to some anti-biotics.
Whatever you take, make sure you take all precautions against being bitten
at all - cover up feet, legs, ankles in the evening etc.


--
Rita Daggett

We took Malarone and had no side effects at all, but yes, it is
expensive. That said it was worth it to have no side effects at all and
be able to enjoy the holiday without feeling ill!

Donna


--
Donna

'Always be the best you can be'
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"peter lucy" <Peter.Lucy@dsl.pipex.com> wrote in message news:<415c7dfd$0$15884$cc9e4d1f@news.dial.pipex.co m>...
> Advise needed for diving at watamu. Anyone recommend which tablet worked
> best for you and any side effects. I know mefloquine is NOT recommended and
> that I need a prescription from my doc.
> TIA

Go to your nearest BA travel clinic. They spend all day giving travel
medication advice and are very good at it. You can also get any drugs
you need from them. The only charge is for the pills, injections, etc
and these are similar to hight street prices, All in all very
convenient.

All I know is don't take Larium

all the best Nick

> I didnt fancy doxycycline as I'm allergic to some anti-biotics.
> Whatever you take, make sure you take all precautions against being bitten
> at all - cover up feet, legs, ankles in the evening etc.
>
>
> --
> Rita Daggett
>

Interestingly enough there was an article recently on BBC News and whilst
the above advice is true, mozzies are said to drawn to us by the Carbon
Dioxide we exhale and the bacteria which cultivate on our bodies.

Sounds like a damn good excuse for an ethanol bath and breathing from a
rebreather.

Alex

On 2004-10-01 00:32:12 -0700, wilbo <wilbo.1dfsse@forums.deeperblue.net> said:

>
> I am leaving for Kenya next Friday.. I m taking Doxycycline and have
> been told to start today - i.e. 1 week prior, while I am there, plus for
> 4 weeks after. Thats 49 days, hence a 50 tablet packet.
>
> It's one a day and stay out of direct sunlight as best as possible, due
> to additional sensitivity to the sun. Recommended SPF 30 MINIMUM..
>
> Information current as at 2 days ago.
>
> Regards
>
> Wilbo

Agreed - also take a pair of light gloves and some zinc full block sun
stuff - I spent a year working in Madagascar and doxy hand and doxy
nose are things that I came to dread - I was working as the camp
medical officer as well as DO and I would estimate that maybe 1 in 10
people had doxy reactions (females more prone). If you start to get
problems then cover your nose with zinc, put on the gloves and try to
stay out of the sun. If you catch the problem early then it should heal
up easily - it was always when people ignored the issue that things
really got bad.

As an aside, I use mefloquine, but I get absolutely none of the side
effects (not even fun dreams) so it's the ideal... (I was also on it
for a solid year and I didn't feel like being doxy'd for that long).

Doxycycline may also stop you from getting gut bugs and minor
infections (being an antibiotic) and does have the bonus that you may
end up with cleaner skin as it's also used for treating stubborn acne...

Dan.