Cha-am Travel Forum

Hi all, we are off to cha am in november and my wife is sensitive to bites, is it advisable to take the malaria tabs, is there an alternative, one a day, one a week etc, does anyone know of taking vitamin b6 as i have heard this can be a deterent to the blood suckers or is cha am free from these beasts,
Thanks Gadger.x

Hi

As far as I know, you do not need to take malaria tablets in thailand unless you are going to certain border areas. there are websites that can give you more detailed info e.g. http://www.cdc.gov/travel/regionalmalaria/seasia.htm

However, mozzies are everywhere in Thailand. It is not just malaria that you need to be aware of but also dengue fever which is spread by mosquitoes. So usual precautions are needed to avoid bites e.g.
-wear light clothing
-use a repellent with DEET
-wear clothes that will cover your arms and legs etc.

I have heard of the vitamin B6 thing but have not tried it myself and would be unwilling to rely on that alone.
Having said all the above, I have to say that mozzies left me relatively alone in Cha-am - usually they love to bite me! Still, do take sensible precautions as I was probably just lucky.

Everywhere in Thailand they have this stingy bastards.I myself have had dengeu last year and was sick for 1 month.So i use lotion,in the night wear long trousers and shoes as this things like your feet and ankle.Stay away from swamps
and hope for the best as the love foreing blood this devils.
Happy stay dickerling
Ps:vitamin b will help a little and is good for you.

Hi, thanks for your advice, it doesnt sound as bad as some of the doom merchants that frequent the less exotic areas of the globe had me believe.
Cheers Gaz x

Greetings. All the responses you've had so far are eminently sound. As a lifelong resident of Africa, I know all about mozzies, specifically the Anopheles culex, the pesky little dude who transmits the disease. Believe me, you don't want to run the risk of getting malaria - because it never goes away. I'm not sure if you can get the following products in the UK, but two really effective repellents are (1) Tabard and (2) Peaceful Sleep. They come in an aerosol or a roll-on stick (like an underarm deodorant), they're easy to apply (bare legs, arms, ankles, wrists and neck) and, in my experience, they really work. If you're not keen to apply sprays or lotions to yourself, there's also a product that's especially useful for deterring mozzies when you're sleeping. It's basically a small card mat impregnated with a (harmless) chemical that sends the mozzies fleeing for cover. The smell's inoffensive and the mat is activated by placing it on a heated platter in an electrically powered burner. Sounds complicated, but it isn't. There are dozens of different brands on the market (Bayer makes a good one), and, depending on where you're staying, I daresay you'll find them freely on sale in any country plagued by mosquitoes. Then again, you could dispense with all of the foregoing and simply ask your GP for a course of anti-malaria tabs. When I lived in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the '60s, we had to take them every day, but I understand modern medical science has extended that time frame somewhat.