Obtaining Malaria Pills In Bangkok

[lillian88]

Hello All,

Heading to Bangkok tomorrow and trying to avoid paying a fortune for ''Malarone'', a new Malaria pill, as I'll be visitng neighbouring Laos and Cambodia. Anyone know if and where I can get those pills in Bangkok and if they're cheaper than the $5.50 Canadian they're asking for here?

Many thanks!

Lillian

[jamora]

You can buy Doxycycline at any Boots in Bangkok (10 pills are around 100 THB). It's an antibiotics that prevents the parasite, causing malaria, from developing in your blood. It's what most doctors here would recommend you.

Jakob

[WinnieTheKhwai]

You won't find Malarone because GlaxoSmithKlyne doesn't sell it in Thailand. Even if you do find it at some hospitals then it won't be cheaper than anywhere else.

But doxycyclene is cheap and plentiful. Do check storage conditions and expiry dates. So do visit a proper pharmacy to buy it, but then don't let them sell you the expensive brand name but ask the generic version. That should do the trick.

Google right now, today, for information on dosage, general instructions and side-effects. Make sure you check the dosage for use as a *prophylactic*, rather than treating malaria (or other diseases/infections).

Finally, malaria is not the only, or even the most likely thing you can pick up from mosquito bites. So regardless if you take the pills, you still need to take regular precautions such as using DEET repellant, covering up, or even spending up to an hour indoors when mosquitos are out in maximum numbers around dusk and dawn. (Google that, too. )