Malaria prophylaxis advice needed

[alkira]

Hi,

Where is the cheapest place to get Malarone tablets? We will need about 12 weeks of treatment for 2 adults and 2 kids and will have to spend over £1000 in the UK to buy enough tablets to take with us for Colombia, Panama and Equador.

Can we buy Malarone in the Caribbean? Is it cheaper to wait until we need them and buy locally or stock up here at £300 per person.

Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Alkira

 

[outatsea]

Hi,

Having seen the physical impact of a malaria bout I would strongly recommend buying Malarone from a trusted source. I know there are on-line pharmacies offering generic alternatives but their efficacy cannot be guaranteed. I frequently travel to India and use Malarone and although I've had mosquito bites (even with insect repellent on) I've never been ill. Also, you do need to use a good insect repellent to minimise bite risk. Buying a respected insect repellent locally is often a good tactic because the little blighters have developed localised behaviour: what works well in one place may not work well in another.

Finally, the Cruising Association in London may be able to provide additional local information about risk and the sources of reliable drugs in your cruising area but err on the side of caution.

 

[Gerry]

You can certainly buy it in Panama etc but I am not sure of the current price. Buy from one of the larger pharmacies and you shouldn't have any problems. Pleased to hear that you take the threat seriously-it's a really nasty disease and we saw a number of cruisers in that area every year who went down with it due to their ill informed arrogance. Don't forget good insect screens for the boat- you will REALLY need them.For what it's worth we got our drugs here in the UK, got a deal at the pharmacy by asking nicely too!
Have a great trip.

 

[Roberto]

If you plan to come (or have people visiting) to Paris, there is a pharmacy (very big and very "official") selling them at the lowest price in France, IIRC the children Malarone box has fewer pills than the adults one.
If you want me to go and ask what their prices are now just say it, it's not far from where I live.

We had the same questioning, 3 month treatment for 2+2, we eventually decided with Malarone for the kids and Lariam for us, though both us adults had already tried Lariam on other occasions and knew it only gave us very mild secondary effects, which is often not the case.

 

[temptress]

Hi,

Where is the cheapest place to get Malarone tablets? We will need about 12 weeks of treatment for 2 adults and 2 kids and will have to spend over £1000 in the UK to buy enough tablets to take with us for Colombia, Panama and Equador.

Can we buy Malarone in the Caribbean? Is it cheaper to wait until we need them and buy locally or stock up here at £300 per person.

Any advice or experience would be appreciated.

Alkira

I can't speak about the Carrib but I have purchased in South africa and Dubai - SA was the cheapest location but Dubai was almost the same price. Cost for 4 weeks supply was was just under US$150 per adult. In the past we have bought medicial suppliues in Spain, (we are planing on doing this again in Spetember) which was much cheaper than the UK although you need to know exactly what you want.

 

[BobnLesley]

No details as to where you are/route you're taking; if you'll be passing through the Canaries, then there's a state-run clinic there which specialises in the tropical-disease stuff. We saw an English-speaking doctor who we felt advised us very well on numerous issues, gave us yellow-fever shots and prescriptions for anti-malarials, anti-histamines and some general 'just-in-case' antibiotics for the Atlantic crossing; cost was perhaps 1/4 of what we were being quoted in the UK. If you're heading that way, I can turn up the address/contact details; it's a ten-minute walk from the Las Palmas marina/anchorage and having booked an appointment only a couple of days before, we got everything done and sorted in a single morning.

 

[Gerry]

Oh and you used to be able to get a free yellow fever shot in Trinidad if you are heading for central America- Jesse James will have the details.

 

[dazdoorman]

No details as to where you are/route you're taking; if you'll be passing through the Canaries, then there's a state-run clinic there which specialises in the tropical-disease stuff. We saw an English-speaking doctor who we felt advised us very well on numerous issues, gave us yellow-fever shots and prescriptions for anti-malarials, anti-histamines and some general 'just-in-case' antibiotics for the Atlantic crossing; cost was perhaps 1/4 of what we were being quoted in the UK. If you're heading that way, I can turn up the address/contact details; it's a ten-minute walk from the Las Palmas marina/anchorage and having booked an appointment only a couple of days before, we got everything done and sorted in a single morning.

This is very interesting information, we left the UK in such a rush last year that we are not up to date with all the shots needed for the tropics, if you have the name or any information so we can find this clinic in Las Palmas I would be very grateful. As we will be en-route for the Canneries in a few months time.

Darren n Vicki