The Singapore Forum

My in-laws are coming in Dec/Jan and we will be taking them to Kota Kinabalu and Chiang Mai & MIL was asking me about malaria risks in those places and do they need medication. I've never really thought about malaria anywhere we've traveled in this region, honestly, but given they are both late-ish 70s, I suppose their concerns are a bit different from mine. I did mention that most places around here (including here, obviously) have dengue and that we should wear mosquito repellant, but I know malaria meds can be dicey -- is there really a need for them to take any? Thoughts & experiences welcome.

Anti-malarials suck. They make you sick and they offer no protection against dengue, which I think is an even greater threat than malaria. Have them wear loose fitting clothing that covers their body and use plenty of mosquito repellant with DEET, day and night. I took my 86 year old grandmother around Malaysia and Thailand with nothing but good bug spray and she was A-OK.

Thanks, Lili, that was basically my thought as well.

I did tell her it would probably be a good precaution to be sure her typhoid vaccine was updated and I checked that they have both have had Hep A injections as well - other than that, I think DEET bug spray is what we need to do. Thanks!

Can't remember enough fine details other than Anti Malarials are seriously seriously nasty in the psychosis effects to the point just accept rather than waste further time looking up the details. Have always found physical measures best for dealing with - even travelled with small citronella candles and mosquito coils when stayed in beach type places with balconies. Very light to pack in the ol' ziploc in a side pocket and citronella is a nice calming smell in a room anyway.

I have found some of the sprays really gave me headaches, the more oil based ones were nice on skin though and equally effective, so might be worth having bit of experiment with brand.

'Psychosis effects' - yeah, don't need the in-laws on anything that does that!

Tas - I also have a little travel ziplock for citronella candles and mosquito coils, because I don't like to sleep in bug spray, yucks. I use the coils sparingly too.

If you're very worried about chemicals, Johnson & Johnson makes a baby strength mosquito repellent that you rub on with your hands and I feel works really well on Wolfie. But nowadays I just use DEET spray, if you spray outside then it's less gross.

Also, don't forget to re-apply, especially when you're touring around and sweating.

I used to use those citronella patches you can get at Guardian on the kids when they were younger - might grab some of those to take along as well (to use in addition to DEET, etc.)

i used to take Lariam back in the 90s while travelling in Thailand (especially the Golden Triangle area was risky at the time). never had any side effects (but then, given my level of sanity, would i notice?).
if i look here the high risk area is now limited to a little strip in the far West...

i did hear that apparently good old quinine has regained its effectivenes, so maybe if you keep them well lubricated with G&T's they'll be ok...

The problem with malaria is, I think you never really get rid of it. I've taken the meds when travelling in Central America, maybe Mexico and the Caribbean too - long time ago now! I think at that age especially I would. You need the right meds for the specific area, the doc should have a map.

yes, malaria is for life...

Wow, according to that map, all of Cambodia is high risk! They were there 4-5 years ago - wonder if they knew about that then? Chiang Mai is low risk on that map, so that's fairly reassuring, anyway. G&T idea is interesting

If were over 70, getting any disease for life doesn't seem so scary anymore. How many years will I have left anyway?

Personal opinions aside, I've traveled to funny nooks and crannies of Asia (was in a super remote part of Papua in Aug (huge mozzies), HCMC in July, no bug spray) but so far I have not contracted any funny disease. Maybe my blood really is bright orange and scares the $hit outta the mozzies...