Job Discussion Forums

[dixie]

My parents will be down in those areas - mostly coastal - for the month of Feb. and are wondering about the need to take malaria pills. Does anyone down there have any info or advice about the need (or lack of a need) to take them?

Thanks.

[El Gallo]

I have lived in Chiapas for four years and have not heard of any cases of Malaria here. If there are no side effects from the pills, I guess it is better to be safe than sorry especially if you are going to small poor villages with no sanitation.

I would be more worried about dengue in Chiapas and always use mosquito repellent and netting at night if camping. I had dengue once and went to Arizona at the same time. The doctors there did not believe I had dengue so I went to my mother's house and swam in the community pool. When the blood tests came back positive for dengue, the whole community freaked out and the local health authorities tried to quarantine me but by that time I tested negative so the let me go free.

[dixie]

Thanks.

I think they will end up taking the pills but I thought some words from those down there would be helpful.

[Dragonlady]

deleted

out of date

[lozwich]

This is older information, but when I was travelling through Mexico 6 years ago, I was told to take some malaria tablets with me, but to only take them if I came down with symptoms. It wasn't the full Africa strength tablet either, just a special one for the type of malaria that part of Mexico can have. I didn't need them, possibly because I was using repellent a lot for the other diseases there.

[ls650]

I'd be a lot more worried about dengue than malaria.

Take a look at the CDC's web site. They have some excellent pages for travellers.

[Samantha]

In addition to Dengue, there is Typhoid Fever, which is still fairly common. Both hubby and I have contracted it at separate times.