preventing malaria

[FBOZH]

I had side effects when taking LARIAM which is a drug taken once a week to prevent one from catching malaria. I am going to Tanzania in a couple of weeks. Does anybody in Tanzania not take anything against malaria? mechanical prevention with long sleeve and bed nets is more important

[flyhardmo]

I was in Tanzania for 16months and never took anything for malaria and never had any problems, although some of the other pilots did get it occasionally it really depends where you go. If you are going up around lake Vic then just take extra precautions. Use lots of mosquito cream and sleep under a net or in an airconditioned room. I never had any problems around dar es Salaam as long as you stay in a descent area. The rainy season march till may is the time when most malaria strikes so again just becareful. Alot of ppl think its crap but i drank lots of tonic with ice and lemon and i found the mozzies didnt like me. The most important thing though is to stay healthy, eat well and dont get too tired or ur immunity drops and it hits u.
Enjot Tz its an awesome place
cheers:ok:

[josephshankes]

Try getting a drug with a daily intake as apposed to the weekly one.

The weekly ones tend to have more side effects, my experience.

If that doesn't work, try a good intake of whisky, works wonders in Africa in all sorts of ways!!

The Africans should build a monument to the mosquito, as it's killed more white men than anything else down there.

[chuks]

Actually, one of the West African states did a stamp honouring the mosquito for keeping them free from colonisation, I believe.

I tried Lariam and found it didn't suit me at all. Now I am using Doxycycline (100 mg. per day) and so far, so good. That is for Nigeria, where we have a high incidence of serious cases of malaria, including that one that can kill you in 3 days.

In fact, a Nigeria-based pilot went to the States for training, went sick at FSI with cerebral malaria and later died in hospital. I was told he felt a bit under the weather when he left but just thought it was a touch of flu or something. Obviously he should have gone for a blood test right away (before taking any pills, because they can mask the infection).

A lot of guys carry a pack of 3 Halfan tablets around with them to take if they get sick. Many countries have very little local knowledge about malaria so that you can be there passed out cold with them trying to figure out what is wrong with you, which can take too long.

Nets, repellent, long sleeves, turning up the air con to sleep, drinking tonic... I dunno but everyone I know seems to go down with malaria at some point, no matter what they try.

I had a mild attack and found it to be quite unpleasant, as diseases go. I was lucky that it happened around midnight so that I was in the clinic by 9 a.m. Even so, I was one sorry-looking specimen for a few days afterwards.

[flyhardmo]

Nets, repellent, long sleeves, turning up the air con to sleep, drinking tonic... I dunno but everyone I know seems to go down with malaria at some point, no matter what they try.


Chuks, ive been 4yrs in africa east and west and all that seemed to work. I also found that the doctors around east africa have a much better understanding of malaria that western docs as tehy deal with it everyday.
I also agree with whisky, some guys swear by rum but again if u get too tired then it pounces.
The other malaria prevention is to stay out of africa. I think 4 yrs is too much
cheers:8

[Tokunbo]

FBOZH,
I've been working in really bad malarial areas for more than 25 years now and seen quite a few friends die of malaria.
As Flyhardmo says, the most important is to try not to get bitten. Mosquitos normally feed at dawn and dusk, so if you're outside then, wear long sleeves and long trousers and use a mosquito repellent with a high concentration of DEET. If you can, sleep under a net in an air-conditioned space.
Many companies out here forbid their pilots from taking Lariam because of the side effects. Halfan is also no longer recommended because it causes heart and liver problems. I personally do not take any drugs, but I always have some with me to treat myself if I think I have malaria - but only if there's no qualified medical advice around. Most doctors in Africa are good at treating malaria because there's so much of it here. You can also get a malaria test kit now, which will give you the answer as to whether you really do have it.
I used to take preventive drugs daily but they all had unpleasant and/or dangerous side effects. I carry a card in my wallet in 3 languages so if I'm travelling outside Africa, fall ill and am unconscious any medic or doctor will know that I work in a malarial area. The drugs I carry to treat malaria are either Doxycline (actually an antibiotic, but effective - although if you have fair skin it will make you more likely to get sunburnt) or Malarone, which is one of the latest drugs but is very expensive. This is a mixture of 2 drugs, proguanilhydrochloride and atovaquon which together are very effective and will usually kill off malaria in a 4 day course of treatment, or keep you alive long enough to get specialised medical help.

[helldog]

I have to agree with flyhardmo AKA......Mo. Gin and tonic seems to keep malaria away. I still get bitten though. Also the first time it hit me was after a whole days flying with no food and little water. Mo was there to see me through. Actually he was just there to tell me I looked like :mad: thanks mo:ok:

By the way the mozzies dont like you because you dont shower. Take it easy and fly hard.

[FBOZH]

Thanks to everybody for all your good advice. I am going to take doxyciclyne as a preventive means so I am left with a choice: Gin and Tonic or Whisky!

[ou Trek dronkie]

Some very good advice here from experts (I'm not one) but watch it with Lariam. I seem to remember that about 10% of users suffer very strong side effects. Also, different strains of malaria need different drugs.

FBOZX is right, prevention is best, I used “Peaceful Sleep” when I could get it and sometimes those smoking coils, which were good. Also, a guy in Okanhandja (Namibia) produced a very efficacious but evil-smelling ointment which worked like a charm.

As for tonic water, it is also good, but I recommend a teeny drop of Gordon’s to remove the bitterness. Then, a squeeze of lemon, topped up with ice makes the medicine bearable.

BTW, isn’t josephshankes comment a touch racist ? "The Africans should build a monument to the mosquito, as it's killed more white men than anything else down there.” After all, African people have suffered much more from malaria than anyone else.


oTd

[chuks]

A couple of things about malaria:

Lariam had some really unpleasant side effects in my case. And then later one doctor said something like, 'Lariam! You should never take that! Who recommended that?'

'Uhh, another doctor?' End of conversation!

Doxycycline costs GBP 235 per year from Boots at Heathrow Terminal 1. You need a prescription, of course.

The mozzies in Lagos hide under the seats in the crew bus and under the floorboards in the aircraft. We end up using the checklists to swat mozzies as well as run through the checks! But that's just the ones we see; others are using stealth tactics to nail us. There's no way to avoid being bitten in this case.

The local doctor told me that I might have picked up a degree of resistance after so long in West Africa (over 20 years). But I went down with malaria for the first time about a year ago, so I am a bit skeptical about this idea.

[Gouabafla]

Lots of good advice here, let me just add a bit more - based on twelve years in West Africa.

You can build up resistance to falciparum malaria (the bad version) but that resistance fades over time if you are not reguarly exposed to the disease - this could be what happened to chuks.

Drug reccomendations change as the parasites develop resistance, so don't get too closely attached to any particular prophylaxis or treatment. Doxycycline seems to be the current drug of choice for many across the continant (it's what I'm taking at the moment) but ten years ago, it was hardly heard of.

If you have a regular exposure to malaria it becomes a 'stress related disease'. That is the bugs will overcome your system when something else is dragging you down. Lack of sleep, stress at work or even a bad cold can lead to your resistance being lowered enough for malaria to get a hold. So take things as easy as you can and don't try and work and play as hard as you would if you were not in a malarial area.

The best advice here (which I will gratuitously repeat) is don't get bitten.

Last thing, don't believe what anyone (including me) tells you. Africa is full of malaria experts. Every bit of advice you get will be contradicted by someone else. The truth is there are too many variables involved in why certain people get malaria and others don't to make a hard and fast case for any one regime or another. Some people never get malaria however risky their behaviour and others take all the precautions and are forever fighting the thing. Most of us live somewhere in the middle. Find out what works for you.

[Biggles in Africa]

Hi guys,

Try to catch the program on National Geographic about malaria research being done by the Brits in Bolivia and Tanzania. Some really interesting gen on when/how mossies bite, precautions and so on.

BTW, mossies chow any colour they bump into. A child dies every 30 seconds from malaria in Africa, according to the program

Be very careful with Larium. Had a yankee engineer in Loki who didn't read the prescription properly, almost lost his sight and certainly went a bit moggy (mossy??) afterwards!!