Questions asked by other users on Traveldoctor. Treatment of suspected malaria in India
I was infected with malaria probabaly from the Andaman islands (India) and was treated with chloroquin for 4.5 days and the fever finished.
Because i didnt do any blood test I dont know which type of malaria parasite it was.
I have 2 questions:
1. If you have any info on which type of malaria there is in Andaman islands?
2. If to continue with 14 days of primaquine (now 7 weeks after the fever finished) - just to be safe, or its better to wait and see if there will be another case of fever in the future?
According to my data (India government reporting to the WHO) 10% to 25% of malaria at the Andamans is P.falciparum the rest P. vivax.
You do not even know if you had malaria, so I would wait with primaquine until I get a fever attack with verified parasitemia.
You can be tested for antibodies against malaria and if the test is negative, it was not malaria you had. At least the test should be positive before you consider treatment.
Malaria in Delhi and north of Delhi
Could you please tell me which is the most effective anti-malarial drug for the New Delhi area of India and the areas north of this. There are 2 adults travelling.
We usually do not recommend malariaprophylaxis for New delhia and the area noth of Delhi up to Nepal and Nepal itself.
The risk of infection is very low, and we estimate that the risk of serious side effects from the malaria pills are far greater than the risk of infection, so our advice is that you use impregnated bed nets and repellents, but not malaria pills.
