Does anyone know whether you can purchase the tablets when you get to Laos.
Your local GP will recomend you take Malaria tablets even though a lot of well traveled people will advise you not to bother.
Just for ease I wouldn't get them over there, they might be cheaper but you don't really know what you are buying.
My advice, see your doctor and get him to give you a private prescription for the Malaria tablets HE suggests. OK they are quite expensive, but they could be the most important aquisition you ever buy!
Enjoy your holiday in Laos.
Thanks Namlod, very grateful to you.
You can certainly buy all the anti-malarials you'll need in Laos. There are locally made chloroquin based meds as well as imported genuine meds, including the dreaded Lariam!!
If you've already decided to take preventative anti-malarials - then its probably easier to get a UK prescription - though be careful with lariam. If you lose/run out of UK prescription then you can buy locally. Just keep a note of type & dosage.
In the event you do contract malaria - then medical treatment isavailable locally, and are adequate in Vientiane & all Provincial capitals.
We were advised to take Doxycyline as the best anti-malarial for Laos. I think you would be better to get it before you leave home as then you can be certain of its quality. Also, you need to start taking it two days before you enter a malarial area.
Doxycycline gave us no side-effects at all, and it probably helps to keep various bacterial nasties at bay.
Thanks Butch Natrone and Alvaro. Very grateful for your replies.
Hi agree with others we went through this last year before going to cambodia and was really glad we started our malaria course before we left as we got bit on our 1st day and we would have been panicky!!!
we took malone,unsure of spelling,we are also off to laos and have been advised we can take these again we had no side effects either on these as previously mentioned expensive and need presription but well worth it for peace of mind
Why bother? I've lived in Laos since 2005, travelled the length and breadth of the country and never been stricken with malaria.
And hey, if you do catch it, don't worry, malaria only kills poor people with inadquate diets. I'm sure you have travel insurance, you'll be medivac'ed home in the worst case scenario and have a cool travellers tale to tell...
Dengue fever on the other hand, I have had. Now there's a truly painful Leonard Cohen of a virus; just when you think you are better, it strikes again and again, incredibly in different organs of the body.
And there ain't no prophylactic for that sucker. Different mosquitoes carry it from anopholes (the ones that carry malaria), mainly aedes aegypti, who tend to bite in the daytime as opposed to anopholes which swarms at sundown. You can differentiate between the two types of mosquitoes as anopholes don't make a buzzing sound.
Which makes the buggers harder to spot, naturally...
Wendy,
I'm not sure what TripAdvisor's policy is on posting links to other travel advice sites is, but ............
Travelfish have some reasonable advice on this:
"buy generic equivalents upon arrival in Asia -- at a fraction of the cost of what you'll pay at home"
the full article can be seen in:
http://www.travelfish.org/feature/85
They also point out that risks are much greater in some habitats than others - so bear this in mind.
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