Mefloquine and scuba diving

[rogersides]

Hi All,
I'm off on honeymoon to Malaysia and Cambodia soon, and my doctor has prescribed me Mefloquine. I will be in Malaysia for two weeks first where i'll be doing a bit of scuba diving, and then after that i'll be going to Cambodia.

Is it safe to use this anti malarial and scuba dive?

Roger

[angiemac]

Mefloquine = Larium and all the associated risks that it holds. Personally I wouldn't dive using them.

Check out the Home office pages or Travelpharm.com on what malarials are required. Or ask your GP is Larium is really necessary. I know that East Malaysia only requires paludrine and chlorquine (an much nicer mix for divers but you do need to start 4 weeks before you travel) for Sabah.

I've dived on this mix over a period of 9months and it didn't affect me. Be warned though - some poeple don't get on with this regime -the pills make them feel sick - it is important you take them with food (and they don't taste very nice).

I must stress that I'm not a doctor or pharmacist so my advice is not based on fact only my personal experiences. DO take something - cerebrial malaria is not pleasant (I've seen a few friends go through it) and does kill if not treated in time.

[Adrian Kelland]

Hi All,
I'm off on honeymoon to Malaysia and Cambodia soon, and my doctor has prescribed me Mefloquine. I will be in Malaysia for two weeks first where i'll be doing a bit of scuba diving, and then after that i'll be going to Cambodia.

Is it safe to use this anti malarial and scuba dive?

Roger

Roger

Does your doctor know you will be diving?

You might want to have a look here <a href="http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2369" >http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2369</a> for various comments on anti-malarials. It looks like your stuff is Larium, which would appear to have enough possible side effects for me to not want to take it, let alone dive. My opinion of course.

Adrian

[Steve Walker]

Hi All,
I'm off on honeymoon to Malaysia and Cambodia soon, and my doctor has prescribed me Mefloquine. I will be in Malaysia for two weeks first where i'll be doing a bit of scuba diving, and then after that i'll be going to Cambodia.

Is it safe to use this anti malarial and scuba dive?

Roger

Mefloquine, a.k.a. Larium - I'm not a GP, but I doubt it is particularly advisable, have a look at the titles of the references on the link ! A friend of mine had some bad experiences with larium, and having seen it firsthand I personally would avoid larium. THere ARE other good anti-malarials
Hope the info below is helpful
Steve


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Larium, a frequently prescribed medicine in the UK can have chronic adverse reactions in some individuals and local doctors advise that there is no Larium resistance in East Africa, so this drug is not advisable for prevention of Malaria in Uganda. Local British High Commission doctors in Uganda
recommend the following drugs:- Chloroquine, Paludrine and doxycyclone. Please check with your
doctor as to the most suitable drug for your personal requirements.
( <a href="http://www.davidshepherd.org/downloads/safariitinerary.pdf" >http://www.davidshepherd.org/downloads/safariitinerary.pdf</a>)
~~~~~~~
More relevantly:

Cambodia
Yellow fever vaccination certificate required from travellers coming from infected areas.
Japanese encephalitis - consider immunisation for some situations (see 3.10.2 above). Transmission season likely to be May-October.

Malaria risk, predominantly P.falciparum, throughout the year in the whole country except Phnom Penh area and close to Tonle Sap. Malaria does occur in the tourist area of Angkor Wat. P.falciparum highly resistance to chloroquine and resistant to sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine reported. Resistance to mefloquine also reported from western provinces.

Recommended prophylaxis: mefloquine, or doxycycline or atovaquone/proguanil (see 6.5); but mefloquine not suitable for western border areas.

<a href="http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/hinfo/travel16b.htm" >http://www.archive.official-documents.co.uk/document/doh/hinfo/travel16b.htm</a>

[Angus]

I took Larium for a period of just over seven months with no side effects what-so-ever. That said I do know of individuals that did have side effects both minor and also a little more serious.

The advice I was given on being prescribed was not to dive for the first three weeks of taking the tablet so as to be sure that I was suffering no adverse effects. After that then the all clear was given.

For what it's worth I dived on a number of occasions during the period of taking the tablets and felt fine.

Hope this helps.

Angus

[scott laddiman]

I have asked this question on several occasions as I travel often to West Africa and need anti malaria medication. When I get home I naturally would like to dive but I take 'Malarone' which needs to be taken once a day for seven days after returning from an infected area.
Malarone doesn't effect me much apart from making me slightly tired but I have yet to get a proper answer from any medical person. There just isn't enough research done on anti malaria medication and diving as far as I know.
Where I am working now (Equtorial Guinea) is one of the worlds worst areas for Celebrial malaria and they say 'Malarone' is one of the best drugs for this. It does not come cheap but you can take it two days before travelling.
I suggest you ask your doctor about 'Malarone' and if you dive start off easy. Remember no anti malaria is 100% effective, so use spray and keep covered!!! Get to know the signs of celebrial malaria and make sure you can get treatment quickly if needed.
Scott.