Malaria meds.

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Dangers of Malaria Pills
From: kludge.netcom.com (Scott Dorsey)
Date: Wed, 26 Jul 1995 16:13:18 GMT

>>In about one week, I will be traveling to the Yucatan in Southern Mexico, and perhaps, to Belize. My doctor recommended that I take Malaria pills (Lariam--mefloquine HCI) for the trip.
>Was surprised to find out that taking even one Maleria pill prohibits you from donating blood (in the USA) for two years! Happened to my boss.

Yes, but once you get malaria, you aren't permitted to donate blood for the rest of your life. Take it from someone who has had recurrent malaria for quite a few years: take the pills. They have some pretty nasty side effects if you read the PDR, but they're a hell of a lot better than having malaria. Use DEET... it's also a lot more hazardous than citronella oil (which is the active ingredient in Skin So Soft), but it's also a lot better than spending a weekend in bed, sweating and puking with a 104' fever every couple of years.

Trust me, primaquine and chloroquine have made the world a much better place. Lariam has even fewer nasty effects. Any one of them is still a lot better than being dead.

I do not recommend being dead of malaria. Many of my friends went this way, and it was not pretty and did not appear to be a fun way to die.

From: tkeenan.uoguelph.ca (Timothy J Keenan)

: Was surprised to find out that taking even one Maleria pill prohibits you from donating blood (in the USA) for two years! Happened to my boss.

Having malaria will disqualify you forever. I know--my wife has had it for 30 years or so. Actually, it was _probably_ cured in 1975 by a drug called Primaquin, but no symptoms doesn't mean no parasites, and without doing a liver biopsy, there is no way to determine that you don't still have the little buggers encysted there.