Hello, we´re plannig a 3 week + trip around vn and it seems the only places we´ll hit with malarial possibilities are the Mekong and Sapa.
I´ve seen conflicting info on the Mekong with some saying it is malarial and others saying just the northern delta is. We´ll only be going to My Tho, Ben Tre and Can Tho.
The Sapa area is said to be malarial but is it a serious threat? I´m not so concerned for myself as much as for my partner who tends to get ravaged by mosquitoes wherever we go why i normally escape relativley unscathed (why does that happen to some and not others??....).
In any case we´re not big on taking medication unnecessarily as we believe that these powerful vaccine/pills can cause more harm than good sometimes and are reluctant to trust some doctors advice as many seem to just throw medicine haphazardly at whatever problem there is. After all it is a big business like so many others.
Any advice is welcome.
Thanks
Reply to this Hi Stephen
I find the NHS Fit for Travel website, especially the
country specific malarial maps useful for working out where is malarial on my trips and if malaria meds are recommended.
Whether you take meds is your choice but malaria is a horrible disease to catch and worth avoiding at all costs. Even if you don't usually react to bites you're probably still being bitten so you should take all usual precautions against being bitten e.g. nets, long clothes, bug spray etc.
Have a great trip!
Reply to this Anti-malarial drugs are waste of money, and in most cases malaria is not 'a horrible disease to catch', unless you are an impoverished child born in a malarial zone.
Wear long sleeves and pants, wear socks. The hours just after sunset are worst. Buy a plug in mosquito killer and sleep under a net.
We'll be having it back in Europe and the States soon, so get used to it.
Reply to this Hi There
We visited both places last year and didn't take malaria medication for either of them. Not sure if it's recommended or not but that's our experience of it and we had no problems. Just invest in a good bug spray and as the above post says try to wear long sleeves & trousers as much as possible.
This is only our experience though and as we say to anyone else we can't take the place of a doctor so you'd have to make your own decision on it.
Hope this helps
Reply to this Hi my friends !
I have organized so many programs for the people to Sapa. I saw that : they did not ready so many medicine. In Sapa, don't worry about malaria because the people in Sapa knows the way to anti malaria. :D . Depend for you. If you take long shirt, trouse, and sleep inside the net....so you won't need so malaria medicine.
Have great trips
Tuong
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