malaria - eek

mramoeba

my doc has just told me i will need to spend £300 on malaria tablets for a 3 month trip to asia, making £900 for 3 of us. can anyone help me out with some advice please... i thought i would be able to get this on prescription. i have read that buying anti-malaria tablets in thailand is much cheaper, but how do i know what and where to buy?
very confused...please help

firrybabe

I'd advise starting your anti-malarial course before you travel and not trying to pick up tablets once you're away. (having had malaria in the past I can tell you it is not a nice experience).

Have you tried this place ?

http://www.expresschemist.co.uk/product_6605_paludrine---avloclor-travel-pack--112-tablets-.html

are they the type of tablets you want / been prescribed ?

you really need to follow your doctor's advice

tstodart

Yes, you will have to pay for the prescription.

I have just bought some for a short trip to africa.

One good source of advice (and good prices) was

http://www.preventingmalaria.info

This is a website set-up by a UK based internet pharmacy (https://www.stratford-pharmacy.co.uk), although there are plenty of other non-commercial sources of info. You need to find out which drugs are recommended for your travel area. There are usually more than one option, but some need to be taken more often than others, and some have nasty potential side effects (mefloquine).

Boots online seemed to very good prices as well. We bought Malarone for our short trip, and I think they were around 30% cheaper online compared to the High Street.

You may be able to get them at your destination, but some of the drugs are supposed to be taken a week or so before you travel to the malaria region. Also, seems like it could be some hassle to spend time sourcing pills while on holiday!

alison74

Having just returned from Thailand with 2 doctor friends, they could not believe what you could get over the counter at your average pharmacy in Thailand.

If you got enough tablets to do you a week in Thailand, you could then buy tablets over there (all above board, proper names etc, since Thai people take malaria tablets aswell)

My doctor friends bought so many malaria tablets for their onward travels aswell as anti biotics as a 'just in case' measure. Obviously they are medically trained, re the anti biotics, but for the malaria tablets, they got doxycycline which cost me 50p a tablet here on a private prescription and in Thailand you were getting 50 tablets for that price !

Where are you going ? If you are going to Bangkok first, then find the nearest Boots and get them from there !

It is the same in Africa, when I visit there, I buy enough to get me over there and then buy there, they are sooooooooooo much cheaper and all labelled etc, so doing the same job.

mramoeba

yes we are going to bangkok first, so i think i may get a some doxycycline just to check we have no side effects and to get prepared before we get there. my doc said malarone or doxycycline, but i have just been reading on the internet from the sites listed by the answerers (thanks) that malarone isnt recommended for more than 28 days!! many thanks again.

alison74

Well if you are going to Bangkok first, there are Boots in all the main roads, the most touristy one being Khao San Road but also, any pharmacy really that you come across.

Hope you have a fabulous holiday - Thailand is AMAZING

SallyD

Not long back from Nairobi. Boots were by far the cheapest - half price of my local chemists. Did not find them any cheaper in Nairobi.

geo555

Go to your local phamacy and ask for advice there. When I visited Malaysia, my girlfriend spent £30 on malaria tablets, I spent £1.80.