Just curious what all the frequent travelers do and what the local guys think about the malaria meds, and what they take. My wife and I and our 4 year old son are traveling to Roatan for the 1st time at the end of January. I have read what the CDC website says and what others have written in other forums but I'm still not sure which route to go. After my "research" it appears to me that about 3/4 of people take something, and 3/4 of them take Chloroquin or Malarone depending on price. I was just curious to know what all the people on here did. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Malaria pills? What do you all do?
- Thread starter irishtn
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
salth2owannabe
Contributor
Spent about a month on Roatan in two visits in the last two years, didn't take anything, no issues. Have taken Chloroquin when visiting other locations in the Malria zone, however. Can't say that I've been bit by a mosquito on Roatan, but the sand flees do make for a good itch.
mblake
Contributor
For our visit we did take the pills, but out of the 12 other people at the resort we were the only ones.
I
Ahh, But now your posting here so you really may find the absolutely correct answer from some anonymous folks rather than worry about what the CDC or medical person may tell you
BettyfromToronto
Contributor
Hubby & I visited Fantasy Island in Feb 2011 and took the pills. I got side effects I hated - he did not. Others we met at the resort did not take anything. Would I take them again on my next visit? - probably not. They were real cheap on our health plan at work but as I said I hated the side effects.
Now I'm glad we took the Dukoral. That was not covered by the health plan and cost $80/person. Ouch! Didn't bother for our trip to Jamaica in September and not bothering now for our January trip to Cozumel.
Now I'm glad we took the Dukoral. That was not covered by the health plan and cost $80/person. Ouch! Didn't bother for our trip to Jamaica in September and not bothering now for our January trip to Cozumel.
bkpix
Contributor
In 3 trips to Roatan we have not taken any. We do, however, use a lot of good insect repellent. It doesn't do much for the no-see-ums, but works pretty well on the mosies.
You're <1 day travel back to the US and first world medical care. Malaria doesn't kill you that fast. I guess I've always assumed I'll just go home and deal with it there if I fell ill.
- Messages
- 26,281
- Reaction score
- 5,875
- # of dives
- I'm a Fish!
I took Malarone. But we never really saw any mosquitoes that I'm aware of. Lots of sand flies though.
fisheater
Contributor
Malarone. One a day, no noticeable side effects. Why worry?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bratface
Contributor
It's not worth risking slow liver death by not taking the pills. I lived in Roatan for a while and took them every week as directed and for the weeks upon returning to the states. Be sure to use insect repellant on yourselves and your child. Skin infections from bug bites are common in children and can get infected.
Similar threads
