See, when I was in Lao last the furthest north I went was Vang Viene, and nobody seemed that bothered about malaria. I heard if you went say up to Luang Probang then you might want to start worrying about malaria.
Thing was, in Thailand it seemed the same... first started in Ko Phi Phi and nobody there was worried of malaria, cos there was none. Peeps there said "Oooo... if you go much further north than Bangkok you'll need to get yourself some antimalarials", but upon landing in Nong Khai the general concensus was "What you doing with those antimalarials? there's no need for them here... you need to be well into Lao before you'll need those".
The general scenario was that malaria was in the north, but you could keep going north and malaria was always still in the north, despite being in malaria country according to those more south.
There's a bunch of websites that proclaim malaria is wide spread across an area i've travelled through and know there was no malaria.
I'm curious to know if there actually is a large malaria problem in Lao, or if it is hype and actually there is very little malaria areas.
Anybody had any malaria experiences?
Full Version: Can we talk about malaria here?
QUOTE(Jodha @ May 19 2008, 04:35 AM) [snapback]3705475[/snapback]
See, when I was in Lao last the furthest north I went was Vang Viene, and nobody seemed that bothered about malaria. I heard if you went say up to Luang Probang then you might want to start worrying about malaria.
Thing was, in Thailand it seemed the same... first started in Ko Phi Phi and nobody there was worried of malaria, cos there was none. Peeps there said "Oooo... if you go much further north than Bangkok you'll need to get yourself some antimalarials", but upon landing in Nong Khai the general concensus was "What you doing with those antimalarials? there's no need for them here... you need to be well into Lao before you'll need those".
The general scenario was that malaria was in the north, but you could keep going north and malaria was always still in the north, despite being in malaria country according to those more south.
There's a bunch of websites that proclaim malaria is wide spread across an area i've travelled through and know there was no malaria.
I'm curious to know if there actually is a large malaria problem in Lao, or if it is hype and actually there is very little malaria areas.
Anybody had any malaria experiences?
Thing was, in Thailand it seemed the same... first started in Ko Phi Phi and nobody there was worried of malaria, cos there was none. Peeps there said "Oooo... if you go much further north than Bangkok you'll need to get yourself some antimalarials", but upon landing in Nong Khai the general concensus was "What you doing with those antimalarials? there's no need for them here... you need to be well into Lao before you'll need those".
The general scenario was that malaria was in the north, but you could keep going north and malaria was always still in the north, despite being in malaria country according to those more south.
There's a bunch of websites that proclaim malaria is wide spread across an area i've travelled through and know there was no malaria.
I'm curious to know if there actually is a large malaria problem in Lao, or if it is hype and actually there is very little malaria areas.
Anybody had any malaria experiences?
Mosquitoes and malaria are problems, particularly during the middle and end of the rainy seasons when lakes are still filled with water where mosquitoes reproduce. If you travel, there are creams that you can apply to your body to "discourage" mosquitoes from biting you, or drugs that you can use. And people sleep in mosquito nets.
Aye, I took a mozy net last time I was in the area, served me very well for my entire Thai trip stopping mozies from biting me whilst I was asleep.
Didn't stop them biting me at other times tho, particulary when sinking Changs next to the Mekong in the evening, etc.
If I am living in Lao on a perminant basis I reckon I'll be biten regularly regardless of mozy net, just like in Thailand.
I'm not keen in smearing DEET containing creams on my skin on a daily basis, I'm also not keen on taking things like Doxycycline on a daily basis or Lariam (Mefloquine).
Lao people have lived in Lao for how long? A long long time I think we can all confirm
How do the natives stay safe, or do they just suffer? Hmmm....
Didn't stop them biting me at other times tho, particulary when sinking Changs next to the Mekong in the evening, etc.
If I am living in Lao on a perminant basis I reckon I'll be biten regularly regardless of mozy net, just like in Thailand.
I'm not keen in smearing DEET containing creams on my skin on a daily basis, I'm also not keen on taking things like Doxycycline on a daily basis or Lariam (Mefloquine).
Lao people have lived in Lao for how long? A long long time I think we can all confirm
How do the natives stay safe, or do they just suffer? Hmmm....
daily use of the tent net over the bed~ 
.
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