Thailand Warns Tourists Over Malaria

[Coss]

 

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=11763947

 

Thailand's disease control department has issued a malaria warning to those planning to take trips or camp out in the country's forests during the current peak tourist season.

 

"Malaria-carrying mosquitoes are commonly found in forests bordering Myanmar, particularly in Kanchanaburi province", Dr Vichan Pawan, the department's spokesman, told DPA.

 

Besides Kanchanaburi province, other provinces popular among tourists where malaria-carrying mosquitoes can be found include Tak, Songkhla, Narathiwat, Ubonratchathani, Maehongson, Sisaket, Chiangrai and Pattani.

 

According to the department's statement, a total of 16,651 people were found to have contracted malaria in Thailand since the beginning of 2016, 11,600 of whom were Thai nationals and the remaining 5051 were foreigners.

[Flashermac]

I didn't realise that Pattani and Narathiwat were popular with tourists these days.

[Mekong]

To my knowledge there is no business visa for "Insurgent" so the Malay's from Kelanstan who cross the border are counted as "Tourists" you know how TAT like to fudge the figures

[pasathai1]

and don't let them prescribe lariam for it, the side effects are horrible

[bust]

Touch wood in 22 years of visiting LOS I have never had it and have spent a lot of time in Tak region. Was told by a nurse once in Mae Sot that anything with a high alcohol content like an antiseptic hand wash applied directly to a bite will kill the parasites

[Flashermac]

Risk to get malaria in Thailand

 

 

...

 

1. According to the study in United Kingdom reported in 1996. The risk for UK travelers to get malaria in Thailand was 1:12,254.

 

2. One study in 2005 pubished in the Emerging Infectious Diseases estimated the risk for travelers to get malaria in Thailand equal to 1:50,000.

 

3. Our hospital (Hospital for Tropical Diseases) is the main referral hospital in Thailand that takes care of many malaria cases per year. We found that in the 6 years period (2000-2005), there were only 21 travelers’ with malaria in our hospital. Moreover, only 3 of these cases really acquired malaria in Thailand. So it is rare to find a case of travelers that really get malaria in Thailand.

 

So we might say that the risk for general travelers to get malaria in Thailand is very low. So this is why we do not recommend the use of antimalarial medication in Thailand.

 

However if you would like to travel outside Thailand, such as Myanmar, Lao PDR, Cambodia. The risk may be higher than in Thailand, you should consult with qualified medical staffs in this issue.

 

http://www.thaitrave...laria_risk.html

[Coss]

I've had Dengue twice in Laos, but Malaria in Laos is considered a rarity.

[Flashermac]

I've had dengue twice ... once in Phitsanulok and once in Bangkok. Malaria was virtually wiped out in Thailand by the 1970s, but it still exists in the jungles along the Burmese border. Unfortunately, mosquitoes don't need visa when crossing back and forth.

 

I was in an area of the Central Highlands in 1969 that was notorious for malaria. The 3 companies of my battalion at Dak To accounted for over 50% of the malaria cases in the entire US military in RVN for 3 or 4 months in a row. I took my pills faithfully and never got it, but some idiots wouldn't. The colonel finally ordered the medics to piss check everyone in the battalion twice a month to make sure they were taking the tablets. (I was an NCO, so I didn't have to be checked. RHIP.)

[baa99]

I thought Cambodia had drug resistant strains of malaria.

[Coss]

They've got drug resistant strains of Police or so I've heard...