Malaria Medicine Necessary for Visiting Ankor? Wat

[mcjyl]

We will be visiting Ankor Wat in early April, 2009. We are wondering whether it is necessary to take anti malaria medicine with us during the trip. We took it with us for the Amazon trip, but the tour guide told us it was not necessary unless you were in the very remote area. They have not reported any problem with malaria for the last 20 years. Thanks in advance.

 

Jim

[Denverite]

Hi Jim and Mary:

 

We are torn about whether to take the malaria pills or not. The CDC site did indicate that there was a possibility of malaria in the temple area of Angkor Wat. Our doctor recommended it--he said it only takes one mosquito. I have heard of others who did not take any pills and all was fine. So our answer is that we have the pills and are going to take them two days prior to going to Angkor Wat and then 30 days after. My only concern is that one of the side effects is that you are more more prone to sunburn, and I burn really easily, so guess we will see. I guess the other option would be to cover up and use insect repellant. Just as an FYI, I updated my tetanus and also got Hepatitis A shot.

 

See you soon... Fran

[Miss Jolly]

Hi guys,

Fancy meeting you all here:D My GP gave me a website where you can check where malaria medication is necessary. I checked every port that we go to starting with Chiang Mai (pre-cruise). Consequently we are taking the medication form 8th April (2 days before we arrive in Chiang Mai) all the way through to 19th May - 2 weeks after our last Malaria affected country. This is what we were advised to do,

Jen

[MJC]

We took malarone while we were in Cambodia. The sun is brutal so you want to cover up and use sunscreen regardless of the meds. Our guide took us out early in the morning, back to the hotel for two hours mid-day, then back out around 3pm to avoid the heat. It was a great strategy. I just emailed the hotel concierge before we arrived and they set it up.

 

No way to say this without being crude. The malarone made us poop. We took it in the morning, had breakfast, then showered up for the day, then pooped out everything we had. I had been concerned about being on tours all day and bathrooms, but it turned out to be not a problem. Be sure to drink enough water. You'll sweat it all out so again don't worry about the bathroom thing.

 

Angor Wat is an amazing place, and I highly recommend you have a good guide who can explain the details. Ours was also adept at avoiding the massive groups of Japanese tourists, so our photos turned out amazing with very few people in them. He was familiar with the route that most of the large groups take so he was able to get us around the crowds.