Hello again,

This might been asked before so I am sorry for a repeat question. I did look around the site a bit first but could not find anything about it.

I am coming to Udon in 3 weeks time. Yippy.

And my mother "god bless" her is concerned about the risk of being infected with Malaria. My GfFand soon to be TW has a rubber tree farms around the kutchup area. (hence my tag) And I will be spending a lot of my time on the farm for a week.

I have promised my dear old mother I would investigate the situation so I thought I might just ask my trusted new friends here.

So...

Is there much of a mosquito/Malaria problem?
What drug should I get. What do you guys who live there do?
Or am I listening to my Mother to much?

Oh this came about because my GF was in hospital a few days ago with Maralia. Is this common or is this just another way for her to obtain some cash from me? I am not upset if this was the case. I just thought I would add it for info.

Thanks
The Man!

There is always the chance of malaria and dengue fever in the tropical regions because of mosquitos.There are a whole bunch of people living here and very few cases!
Your mom is just being motherly!I don't know a single individual that has contracted malaria here.I know there are some,but in 13 years,I have never met one!

Don't worry,but if you must,buy some pills when you get here

I am actually quite interested to see what the "long time locals" know about this...
I haven't been here long enough to really advice anybody, and I don't go out in the sticks either...
But is it safe to say that Udon doesn't really have a Malaria problem?
I don't take any drug for it anyway,... should I???

When going to Cambodja, i was advised by the Tropical Institute to take "Lariam" a few weeks before going there, but there are many other kinds out there...

Yes those kind of things can happen in Udon. Someone help me out here didn't we get shots for that in the military before being deployed? Meaning Malaria.

Link for malaria & other travel health advice on Thailand from National Health Service in Scotland:

http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinat ... haimalaria

My local GP here in the UK told me that most of Thailand had very low risk of Malaria, however areas near Laos & Cambodia (and inland rural areas) were a higher risk and prescribed Malarone tablets to be taken daily.

As for Dengue, she said that although peak infection time is June to November, there was no NHS advice to take special precautions as the infection rate was so low. only 11,574 cases reported upto June 07 - Eh ? they consider this low !!!
and North East Thailand was amongst the worst affected areas.

She also insisted that I had a Hepititus A injection, (which included Diphtheria, Polio, & Tetanus, but it was the Hep A that she was insistant on).

Other than that I was told to avoid mosquito bites - I would if I bloody well could !
Advice was :- do not wear dark clothing
do not use perfumed deoderant
do not use aftershave
avoid places with standing water

do use a repellant - especially at night
try to stay in a place with moving air (under a fan / air con)
use air con in room especially at night
keep bedroom doors/windows shut

Not sure how effective all this is, but that's what my doctor advised, I'll try it when I arrive in a weeks time and see if it reduces the number of bites.

All her suggestions to avoid mosquito bites are effective!I would add,always wear long trousers,long sleeves and socks in the evenings.Dengue fever is vary rare ,but it is about!

A particular type of mosquito carries it after biting someone that already has dengue fever!It is not deadly unless someone waits to long for treatment which is suppressing the fever with drugs and hydration IV!

Those people that don't seek treatment right away,not only risk their life,but increase the possibility of spreading the disease if they are bitten by that particular mosquito!

"Do not use places with standing water".

Takes me back to the time when all we had was the outside $hitter in the village house, before we had a western style bathroom installed.

The worse time to take a dump was at night, it was like the scene from the movie Bridge Over The River Kwai, where Alec Guinness gets dragged to the "Hole" a tin shack cell.
That was our council gritter, hot enough to rise the pastry on a Fray Bentos steak and kidney pie in about five minutes flat. Even in the middle of the night.
Switch the light on, a dim 25watt bulb and a vast cloud of mosquitoes would fly in formation around the bulb for bearings then proceed to attack my bare ar$e and legs.
It was one of those squat and aim pans.
After that attack I go and spray mossie killer into the council gritter before taking a dump. That done the trick.

There used to be malaria untill some years ago. Now there is hardly any malaria in Thailand, it is considered save from malaria, unless you go hiking in the jungle at the Lao border in the north, or in the jungle at the border of Myanmar.
It's very unlikely to get malaria in a place like Udon.

My first girlfriend used a trick on me, saying that her father was in the hospital with some kind of illness, which wasn't true. So beware of the stories. They are sometimes about sick buffalos, but most of the time about herself being ill or about sick relatives.

Did she already ask you for money?

wow.

So many replies so quickly. thank you.

I am australian and quite aware of mosquito behavour. But thank you for the advice.

Yes frankie she did ask for money. I dont send her much so I dont mind. I just wish she would just ask for it instead of putting on the act. (That is, if she was putting on an Act!).

I have been to Udon a couple of time but this is my first trip in September. I read that the rural areas could very badly infested with mosquito's because it is the rainy season or just after.

But it is good to hear the locals/regulars opinion.

Oh and has it rained alot this year. My GF said they lost some of their young rubber trees because there was not much rain.

Thanks again

Worked on a pipeline up to the Myanmar border some years back. A local Malaria clinic advised us not to take any medication for malaria. There are 3 strains of malaria, one of them being celebral malaria which can be fatal. Preventative medicines in the system make it difficult for the doctors to determine which strain of malaria one may be suffering from and ergo which medication to use to treat it.
If they can determine the strain they can treat it effectively.

Just a wild guess but I would think you would have to worrry about Dengue fever here more then Malaria. There have been expats here infected with that since I hav been here.

Try your best to protect against misquitos, even going to outdoor resturants in the the evening without long pants will usually result in bites, anytime of the year has been my experience.

Malaria was found in Vientiane 35 years ago, I know several people who came down with it. Malaria pills were recommended for my wife when she returned home to her village outside of Nongkhai last year. I suspect people who live there may build up some kind of immunity - just a guess.

In the mid 90's I had chronic malaria while stationed in Tanzania. Took Lariam pills regularly and still got sick. Good news is that the mosquito may have saved my life. I gave up the job for health reasons returned home and was found to have a very aggressive prostate cancer ready to spread through the body. If I didn't have malaria, I would not have had a physical for another year or more.

Having said all that, I will never take malaria pills again !!!! I am having terrible inner ear problems and may eventually loose my hearing. In addition I suffer from vertigo attacks and host of other aliments. The doctors recently suspect that my 20 years of taking malaria pills may be the cause of my inner ear problem. I am currently undergoing all sorts of tests from MRI to ENG tests to induce dizziness. Will know in about 2 weeks what the prognosis is.

The malaria pills are rough, dammed if I do and dammed if I don't.

You are right Ray23.
But this nice special mosquito bites you in DAYTIME.
Infos are in the thread here,Dengue Fever.
Greetings and good luck
The Farmer

I think I will just be careful when out and about. I have some good Insect repelient. Bushman it's called. Very strong stuff and works real well. Better than aeroguard.

I have heard that the Malarias pill can cause all sorts of Side affects. Sorry to hear of your troubles Uncle Tom. I hope they paid you well for time in Tanzania! I will stay clear of them I think.

Were I live in Australia we have a couple of cases of Dengue fever each year, we call it Ross River Fever. Not sure why!

I am only there for a week so I think I will be ok. Althou I am hoping to live in Udon one day with soon to be TW. So all the info is greatly received.