Malaria Meds in Peru?

Chloroquine is no longer considered adequate to prevent malaria in Peru as the malaria has become too resistant to chloroquine.

[bjequa]

i am in peru, trujillo. planning to head to the selva (jungle).. iquitos.. the medics in trujillo only prescribe chloiroquine drugs for prevention... which yeah, the P. falciparum mosquito is resistant to. so if the stats i just read are correct, it is no wonder that over 30% of the population in iquitos report contracting malaria every year.

before leaving australia i decided not to take antimalaria drugs and instead purchased a treatment dose of malerone should i happen to contract malaria. however, after talking two days ago with fellow gringos who have visited this jungle town and gone deep into the jungle, i learned that doing thE off the gingo trail trip leads one to contend with millions of mosquitos surrounding your body at any one time. a situation likely to encourage the contraction of malaria... with all the wildlife and jungle watching.

so the lady at the hospital today said that you cannot buy malerone, doxycycline or the disgusting larium in peru... i want it now. how do i get it. the availability of a drug which the mosquito and the unavailability of other drug options just does not make sense. for travellers or for the peruanos...

any advice is welcome

[pamela e]

I am using Mepron for my malaria. It has an awful tast but helps so much and when off of it the symptoms come right back. My malaria is from complications of Babesia Microti which I got from a tick in Texas along with two types of Borrella (Lyme Spirochette).

[CMM]

Hi:
I am a medical student with an MPH who works to study malaria in the Iquitos region of Peru. For casual travel in the area your risk of contracting malraia is low an therefore if suitable malarial prophylaxis can not be found you should not worry overly about the risk. I live in Iquitos with trips to the jungle 6 months out of the year and have never caught malaria.
You should be able to locate doxycycline in Lima. Chloroquine should not be used as it also can have severe liver effects. The most important preventative measures are to cover all exposed areas with a reppellent containing deet, wear long sleeves and long pants, socks and when possible light colored clothing (as dark colors attract mosquitos). Happy travels.

bjequa wrote:

i am in peru, trujillo. planning to head to the selva (jungle).. iquitos.. the medics in trujillo only prescribe chloiroquine drugs for prevention... which yeah, the P. falciparum mosquito is resistant to. so if the stats i just read are correct, it is no wonder that over 30% of the population in iquitos report contracting malaria every year.
before leaving australia i decided not to take antimalaria drugs and instead purchased a treatment dose of malerone should i happen to contract malaria. however, after talking two days ago with fellow gringos who have visited this jungle town and gone deep into the jungle, i learned that doing thE off the gingo trail trip leads one to contend with millions of mosquitos surrounding your body at any one time. a situation likely to encourage the contraction of malaria... with all the wildlife and jungle watching.
so the lady at the hospital today said that you cannot buy malerone, doxycycline or the disgusting larium in peru... i want it now. how do i get it. the availability of a drug which the mosquito and the unavailability of other drug options just does not make sense. for travellers or for the peruanos...
any advice is welcome

[Jim]

You can buy DoxyCycline all over Peru, it is available over the counter in any pharmacy. I bought some in Lima 3 days ago.

Malarone is not available. That part of your information is correct.

Best wishes,

Jim

n

bjequa wrote:

i am in peru, trujillo. planning to head to the selva (jungle).. iquitos.. the medics in trujillo only prescribe chloiroquine drugs for prevention... which yeah, the P. falciparum mosquito is resistant to. so if the stats i just read are correct, it is no wonder that over 30% of the population in iquitos report contracting malaria every year.
before leaving australia i decided not to take antimalaria drugs and instead purchased a treatment dose of malerone should i happen to contract malaria. however, after talking two days ago with fellow gringos who have visited this jungle town and gone deep into the jungle, i learned that doing thE off the gingo trail trip leads one to contend with millions of mosquitos surrounding your body at any one time. a situation likely to encourage the contraction of malaria... with all the wildlife and jungle watching.
so the lady at the hospital today said that you cannot buy malerone, doxycycline or the disgusting larium in peru... i want it now. how do i get it. the availability of a drug which the mosquito and the unavailability of other drug options just does not make sense. for travellers or for the peruanos...
any advice is welcome

[Beth]

I'm currently in Mexico heading south into South Amercia in a Few weeks.. I didn't buy any malaria tablets in Engalnd as i was told that it would be easy and much mcuh cheaper to get them over here.. So far no luck at all!

Please somebody tel me how i can do this... Beacuse i am going into so many different countries i have been told that the only two i can take to cover me for all of them are Larium and Mefloquin... Mefloquin is definitely sounding like the lesser of two evils and to be honest i'd probably forget to take other types every day so the once a week thing is good for me..

Does anyone know if you can buy mefloquin in Mexico or Venezuela (my next stop)?

Any help greatly appreciated

[John]

Hola,

Don't buy Mefloquin, it's extremely toxic, see the CDC web site if you want to check it out.

Go with the Doryx option.

[Aut]

FYI- Lariam is the brand name for Mefloquin. They are essentially the same thing... this can get confusing sometimes since there are other prophylaxis that have similar sounding names. Personally, I have happily used doxycycline all over the world and have found it easy to find everywhere.