Malaria Risk in South America

Keedowah

Hi folks,

I am heading to South America at the weekend for the start of my round the world trip.

I went to a tropical medical disease centre for my shots and sat with the doctor for a while going over where i will be visiting and for how long. I got a bunch of jabs etc but she said that anywhere i was going was not a high risk Malaria area, so she said there was no need for Malaria tablets.

I will be starting in Rio and then heading to Ilha Grande, Iguazu Falls, through Argentina, Parts of southern Bolivia, southern Peru and down through Chile to Santiago.

Now.... my two travel companions went to two other doctors (not in a tropical disease centre) and they said that they needed Malaria tablets for every country we were going to be in - even every part of Argentina.

Has anyone got any advice? If you did a similar trip recently, what did you do? Should I go with the two other doctors - go get another prescripton and take more drugs - or do I trust my own doctor?

This map shows Malaria affected areas in South America.

Thanks for any advice you may have.

K

shakeydude

I did a very similar trip and we only took the malaria tablets because we went into the amazon jungle, for the rest of your trip you should be fine. If you stay in urban areas I think that you would be fine and prevention is the best bet to avoid any bites and the like.


Boliva rocks by the by:cool:

Afuera

Those areas you mentioned really aren't high risk for malaria at all. You'd need to go well off the beaten track to be in much danger of this disease! I did a similar enough trip (spent about 5 months in S. America), got the same advice as your friends and was taking malaria tablets for a lot of it. In hindsight I don't think it was really necessary and if I was to do it again I would not take antimalarial tablets due to the nasty side effects (slightly trippy effect, messed up stomach sometimes, loss of hair etc.).

It would probably be sufficient to take prophalixis tablets with you and if you start coming down with bad flu-like symptoms to use those until you can get yourself to a medical centre/hospital to get yourself checked out properly. As with all diseases prevention is better than cure, so make sure you're got some good repelant, wear long loose sleeved clothes and use mozzie nets when you're in zones that you may be worried about.

Also, I concur with shakeydudes recommendation and would suggest that you spend as much time as you can in Bolivia.

Nomad_54

Where is the medical centre?

Need to get these shots myself as well as am headin to SA shortly and don't have a doctors in Dublin.

Would like to use the medical centre you mention if I can as they may be more up front with me.

Thanks,
M

Keedowah

http://www.tmb.ie/

In Rio since Monday..