Cure is better than prevention...

[Tyfon]

On my last visit to the quack's last November, I noticed in the waiting room signs saying that antimalarials will no longer be prescribed on the NHS but may be obtained by private prescription. Mentioning this to the quack he actually finished my sentence when I concluded that it was cheaper (for the NHS) to pay to treat malaria on return to the UK (or while abroad where the travel insurance can pay for them)rather than provide prophylaxis to travellers to prevent infection.

For reference, the British National Formulary lists the main tourist areas of Thailand as being of Very Low Risk WRT malaria, but the border areas with Cambodia and Myanmar as "Great Risk".

[Dojoden]

Well my last trip I went and got my hep A, hep B jabs and obtained malaria pills for my trip. Thailand is low risk except the border areas. Also you have to take different kinds of pills for different areas in Cambodia we will say. There is website for the CDC that has a full info on this. Oh I had to pay a small persrciption for the pills thats all. Insurance took care of most of that cost and all of the jabs.

DD

[jimholio]

That is probably because the malaria prophylaxes only have a 50/50 chance to actually prevent Malaria, or so ive heard anyways, dont know the exact numbers.

[S1MON]

I believe Malarone to be around 90% effective, but it is rather expensive at around 5 pound a go.
I dont think this is a good thing at all, my company loses a couple of expat employees every year to Malaria, most are on days off when it happens, the guy goes home to a cold country, feels sick with the same symptoms as the flu, thinks nothing of it and the next thing you know it is too late.
Unless you specifically tell the doctor to test for Malaria it will be missed.

We are not allowed to leave Africa without a malaria test kit, i have tested myself twice in Thailand as i have felt so bad, nothing to do with being on the drink twice a day for 3 weeks.

Still kills a couple of million people a year but if caught on time it is not such a big deal, i know as i managed to catch it after only 3 months in Africa.

Simon

[Tyfon]

Originally Posted by S1MON

I dont think this is a good thing at all, my company loses a couple of expat employees every year to Malaria, most are on days off when it happens, the guy goes home to a cold country, feels sick with the same symptoms as the flu, thinks nothing of it and the next thing you know it is too late.

In certain areas of Africa about 6% of travellers without prophylaxis will return with Malaria. SE Asia is substantially less risky but if I were going to Mayanmar or Cambodia I'd feel better with Malarone and a hefty bottle of DEET.

Retuning from LOS last August (BKK-HKT-PTY-BKK) after about two weeks I got a severe dose of sweats/chills/shakes. As soon as I could drag myself in to the surgery I went to see the practice nurse who was pretty rude and effectively told me I was wasting her time - despite all advice that if you suffer the above within four weeks of returning from SEA then get to the quack's immediately. To be honst I think she was never going to be that sympathetic to any single middle-aged man who had just returned from Thailand...

(BTW the chills repeated a few times, decreasing severity, over the following week or so but disappeared and haven't returned)

[Crustasian]

I was always taught by our doctors that prevention is better than catching Malaria.

You have to remember that once you have caught malaria and been treated it is still lurking in your body and you can have relapses.

People who have had malaria before are also more vunerable to catching it again.

Your quack should do a course in tropical medicines before coming out with this kind of advice.

[Captain]

Originally Posted by jimholio

That is probably because the malaria prophylaxes only have a 50/50 chance to actually prevent Malaria, or so ive heard anyways, dont know the exact numbers.

You heard wrong. Prophylaxis does not prevent malaria. But if you catch malaria treatment is a lot easier and safer as you are allready prepared for bigger doses antmalariamedicines.

[syeatman]

I went to Patong hospital a few weeks back before my week long trip to Cambodia.

I took the anti-malarials that my mate had brought with him from UK (Malarone, I think) and asked if I could get some or something similar. he was quite adamant in recommending that I do not take anything and he also said that in Thailand they do not now recommend taking anti-malarials for three reasons.

1. People are a lot less careful about being bitten if they are taking them which increases the risks of actually being bitten and therefore infection
2. They are not 100% effective in preventing malaria
3. You cannot accurately diagnose malaria if you are on anti-malarials (???)

I was quite shocked by number 3 but reluctantly decided to take his advice and travel without anti-malarials, the side-effect warnings were enough to put me off as well. He said that if you did get any of the symptoms within a few weeks and was diagnosed immediately then it should not be anything to be overly worried about (easy for him to say)

Managed to avoid getting bitten by using large amounts of DEET, but the missus did get bitten twice which did worry me and I am now keeping my eye on her to see if she has any recognisable symptoms.

Not sure that what he told me is actually the official line in Thailand, especially in northern and border areas, but I was glad that I didn't have to take any drugs as they can't actually be any good for you, and I will probably do the same next time I go.

[Tyfon]

Originally Posted by Crustasian

Your quack should do a course in tropical medicines before coming out with this kind of advice.

It's not his advice, it's NHS policy now so probably finance-driven (gotta pay for all those infertility treatments somehow).

[Crustasian]

Caught a story on the BBC yesterday.

The World Health Organization are now saying that most single pill type treatments no longer are effective as the malaria is now immune to them.They are recommending a multi pill or combi treatment for prevention now.