Foo - Malaria 1 Me 0

So, I've been working in Uganda this summer and I'm here for 2 months total. I ran out of my preventative medication (mefloquine), and figured I'd be fine if I just took good precautions by using bug spray and sleeping under a net. Bad idea to do this during the rainy season...

I was traveling with a doctor and we figured it was best if I got tested and started medication if I was positive or started back on the preventative drugs if I came back negative. Turns out that I was positive for the parasite. Great!

Word to the wise, don't skimp on your malarial medication, especially if you're traveling for a shorter period of time during the rainy season. I got lucky since we caught it really early, but malaria just sucks!

That is all.

Schweppes Tonic Water, it's made with quinine. Add some Beefeater, a twist of lime and you've got it knocked!

Get better soon.

Haha, yeah I'm on medication now but the gin and tonic would have been good. Too bad I'm not really a fan of gin. Plus I'm 18, which is legal here (not like they enforce the age anyway!).

I was just joking to my aunt that I should start taking gin and tonics after I ran out of medication. She told me to go for the tonic, minus the gin. I wasn't biting ;)

Get better! My brother lives in the Philippines and skimped his medicine a couple of years ago and caught that nasty little parasite! His luck also ran worse.....got the Malaria out of his system and he caught Dengue a month later! The only good thing is.....he can't get Dengue again, unless the virus mutates significantly!

Wow, hopefully he didn't have Dengue too bad. That can be terrible!

Malaria? That bites!
































(sorry, I had to do that ;))

Get well soon! What sort of treatment do you have lined up? My uncle got malaria in the Galapagos islands about 30-40 years ago, and was treated by some crazy shaman healer guy... not the route I'd take, but it worked for him. Good thing you caught it early!

Wow, hopefully he didn't have Dengue too bad. That can be terrible!
3 weeks in hospital in Cebu! High temp and all the physical issues that go with it! He was NOT a happy camper, believe me!:eek:

Ouch - I guess it's better than worms...

Too bad I'm not really a fan of gin.

a vodka tonic has the same medicinal effects

True story. John Huston and Humphrey Bogart drank heavily during the filiming of "The African Queen". Katherine Hepburn, disgusted w/ their drinking, drank only water. She got dysentary. The moral of the story is: alcohol > water. If your BAC is high enough, the mosquito will die of alcohol poisoning and the malaria germs will be poisoned. ;) :D

They still make Aralen?

That's what I used to take as a kid when I got malaria. That and ice cold showers.

Well, in addition to Malaria, I think I also have this awful virus that's been going around here. I have a nice cold and a spectacular cough. Huzzah!

Falciparum is dreadful. Vivax just a little less so. Never skimp on your meds, use bug spray, and always use your netting.

Onchoceriasis(River Blindness), Trypanosomiasis(Sleeping Sickness), and Schistosomiasis make that part of the world very dangerous. Then of course there is cholera, typhus, and variant strains of meningitis. There are also several types of Hemorrhagic fever such as Dengue, Ebola, and Marburg.

Then of course there is Amoebic Dysentery which really can ruin your day.

Do be careful!

Get better! My brother lives in the Philippines and skimped his medicine a couple of years ago and caught that nasty little parasite! His luck also ran worse.....got the Malaria out of his system and he caught Dengue a month later! The only good thing is.....he can't get Dengue again, unless the virus mutates significantly!

Tom, I am not sure you are right about Dengue. Here in Costa Rica if you get Dengue once, okay not a big problem. If you get it another time - you LEAVE. The third time will kill you they say.

Thankfully it is rare except around Puntarenas and a few other places that don't practice hygene very well.

In Costa Rica we don't take the medicine - almost no one does. We don't let mosquitos breed around us either. That is the most important issue - remove the breeding places and encourage the birds and the bats.

I used bug spray and slept under netting. If I wasn't using netting, I used a fan.

I'm now on coartem and paracetamol. I'm hoping that now it's the virus annoying me, if not, second line treatment is quinine. If the blood smear comes back negative, then I'm going to start the mefloquine again soon after the test.

If you're in a country for an extended period of time, I think you're not supposed to keep taking a preventative medication. I believe that does more harm than good as far as resistance goes. I could be wrong though.

Tom, I am not sure you are right about Dengue. Here in Costa Rica if you get Dengue once, okay not a big problem. If you get it another time - you LEAVE. The third time will kill you they say.

Thankfully it is rare except around Puntarenas and a few other places that don't practice hygene very well.

In Costa Rica we don't take the medicine - almost no one does. We don't let mosquitos breed around us either. That is the most important issue - remove the breeding places and encourage the birds and the bats.
There are actually 4 varieties of Dengue, as it turns out. Type I, mild, and II, III, and IV Dengue Hemorrhagic Fevers which are nastier! It appears you are right! I was going from what the kid brother told me.

RTC, paracetamol is essentially Tylenol. I had it in Austria, but it sure kicked the pain associated with a bad sore throat I had!

My dad contracted malaria when he was in Mexico in the '50's. He recovered, but I can remember that he'd have a kind of relapse once in a while, where he'd have severe chills, and my mother would cover him with blankets. Then he'd be burning with fever and she'd remove them and apply cool compresses. Back and forth. This would last for a couple of days, then he'd be fine. The frequency of "relapses" dropped off over the years, and it's been a very long time since the last one. Maybe the initial treatment is better now, and people don't have these kinds of relapses anymore? Oh, and he was advised to never donate blood again. Don't know if that's changed, too, but check it out before you give.

Good luck, and sorry to hear about your health. Hope you are well soon, and that your contributions make it all worthwhile! :beer:

There are actually 4 varieties of Dengue, as it turns out. Type I, mild, and II, III, and IV Dengue Hemorrhagic Fevers which are nastier! It appears you are right! I was going from what the kid brother told me.

Yes - there are different versions of Dengue and of Malaria too. Thankfully, in Costa Rica we tend to have the milder versions.

I got Filaria once. Just a little bit of swelling...

Just had a blood smear done, and I'm now parasite free!!!

Hopefully I won't have the relapses that VV was talking about. I hope your dad stays relapse free though!

I'm going to be on preventative medication again starting tonight so that should steer away the malaria. I'm probably going to be on it again next summer since I'm probably going to be on the continent again. Hah!

Thanks everyone. Should be done this lethargic spell in a few days. I wish I had my roadie, I'd be up and at 'em in no time. Then again, the drivers here would probably show no mercy...