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Re: Malaria and Mexico (by Bryan W.):

cheryls187 wrote:

nancyr79 wrote:

Does anyone know about the risk of getting malaria by traveling to Quintana Roo ( Yucatan Pennisula, Mexico)?

The travel books tell you to wear insect repellent with DEET, but I just found out the Red Cross won't let a US citizen give blood for a year after a trip there!

I am going, but I really want to know if it makes sense to get a prescription to take the preventative medication?

We leave in three weeks! Thanks a lot.

Hello, we just got back from D.R. in the Caribbean and we got many bites...the bugs seem to come out after the rain...although it was sunny 9 days of the 11 we were there the last two days I recieved over 70 bites. I would suggest wearing deet after a rain. I talked to a man who had taken the shots and been all over the world..he said the shots made him sick and he advised not getting them and not to worry. If you go to Africa it is a horse of a different color.

I don't know of any shots that protect against malaria. I used Malarone on past trips to Panama, and just came back last week from the southern Yucatan(Q.R. and Campeche) near Belize and Guatamela border, and did not use any Malaria protection, but did use insect repellent. In all I only got bit less than a dozen times, even where the mosquitos were swarming. I even brought net headcovers and bedding nets but never used either of them.

The best advice is to prepare for the bugs with DEET or a new repellent (that I don't remember the name, but I think is by Cutter) that supposedly works equally as well.

There really is no excuse for getting excessive bites, just as there is no excuse for getting badly sunburned. It all comes down to being prepared.