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On Friday, April 14, 2000 7:39 PM, Matthew MacLean wrote (A lot of good reference sources snipped) > For the record I use Doxycycline when travelling in SE Asia and diving Its always a controversial issue when discussing health risks for travellers who visit strange and exotic locations. Most of us are aware of the risk of STD's, but few of us give thought to the effect of 'normal' drugs that we might be taking, or how those drugs might impact on our diving! In terms of Malaria, PNG has a fearsome reputation that's largely undeserved. Visiting PNG is no worse than a trip down the road to the local chemist in order to buy a packet of condoms - if you know what features to look for, and providing that it's not in a bad part of town! :-) I'm no 'Quack', so my opinions are very much that of a lay-person. Before going on a diving trip, I always rely on the advice of a diving physician. When visiting PNG - or anywhere else in Asia & the South Pacific - they (the diving Docs' that I favour!), usually prescribe, like Mathew suggests, Doxycycline as the prophylactic of choice. They also - usually - dispense additional good advice about not drinking the tap-water; eating salads or certain other foods, What sort of clothing to wear; and what to do in the event of minor injuries. Taking any anti-malarial drug has side-effects. (I popped a Doxycycline early one morning in PNG before eating and drinking and immediately threw up all over the place! Not a pleasant sight! But I didn't go down with the disease, as did one person - based in PNG - who now regularly suffers from Malaria.) But, by-and-large, Doxycycline is fairly harmless compared with Mefloquine (Larium) when it comes to diving. For those who may be interested, there's a new 'Lonely Planet" series of books dealing with Traveller's health. Each of them measures about 5.5 X 3.75 inches and consist of 400 or so pages of neat information about health issues for ALL travellers - including divers. They cover, "Australia, NZ & The Pacific": "Asia & India"; "Central & South America"; and "Africa". This ain't spam. Although they're a new series, I latched on to them them for myself after a particularly nasty experience with a cucumber in Laos! (Wipe the smirks from your faces! It was one that I ate!) :-) Since then I've been very aware of health issues when going diving and - believe me - Malaria is only one of the issues that travelling divers face. Strike -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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