Questions asked by other travellers on Traveldoctor.
Malaria in India
My daughter (22) and I are doing a charity bike ride in India between Agra and Jaipur. There seems to be conflicting advice as to whether we need to take malaria tablets or not. What is your advice ?
The best information on malaria in India is from the 2008 ”World Malaria Report”, published by the WHO. We have used this information to draw a map of the areas of India, where we recommend malaria prophylaxis with pills.
You will find the map at the bottom of the page if you follow this link:
The map can be zoomed in and out and moved around. You will se that Agra is just north of the malaria area and Jaipur to the west is also outside the malaria areas.
Therefore, we would not recommend that you take drugs as malariaprophylaxis on this trip, but use an impregnated bed net during the night and mosquito replant in the evenings.
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.
You are also welcome to ask your own questions.
