sandcastle

For travel to Penang and Langkawi do people recommend malaria pills, or any other medication outside of the standard vaccinations you get whether you are traveling or not?

ex reg

Ask your doctor, not a message board for an answer on something important to your health.
We never bother with anti malarials in Penang or Langkawi.

Kooky.

I wouldn't bother. I would however try not to get bitten in the first place, as there is no other precaution against Dengue - and you don't want Dengue.

bakedbean

I'm living in Penang. I just spray up with Off morning and evening. Don't think I've had a bite from anything so far . Around the urban areas, there's a heck of a lot of fogging goes on so I would have thought that would cut down the mozzies a bit.

Strider24

I agree with Seasider, dengue is the problem.

joamelie

Can you recommend a good antimosi spray....we are running low on the stuff we bought with us

Kooky.

BB says she sprays with "Off". I use "Rid" - I've never bought it in Malaysia but used to get it in Singapore so you should be able to.

Get coils, citronella candles, and maybe even repellant lamps for your patio, and don't have any standing water, especially in your plant pots.

bakedbean

I used to use straight citronella spray which worked fine, but slowly discovered that my other half is allergic to it (and the plants too) so searched around for one that didn't have it in the ingredients. Off seems to be okay for us, and readily available here in south east Asia.

joamelie

Thanks, I found both Rid and Off in the pharmacy and have armed myself with plugin's for the house....yeah, we moved into a house yesterday, out of the grotty company apartment!

ex reg

In that case first thing is to get the pest control around to do their job.

Well worth it imo.

bakedbean

Absolutely agree with ex-reg, get the pest control to squirt and fog round. That will keep the blighters away. More bugs and pests at ground level, and not to mention snakes

the troubadour

I wouldn't be using sprays personally more than a few weeks and then only in an effected area.
Excessive use is not beneficial to the body. As others have stated Dengue can be the problem in parts of Malaysia. Although never experienced myself.

At night sleeping/sitting around the mozzies would at times be darn annoying normally always used a coil.

Maleria not really a problem in the patrs of Malaysia most folk would frequent. Don't believe anything has changed with regards to that.

bakedbean

Why is that?

nonthaburi

Unless you are going into remote jungle areas probably wouldn't bother. In many cases taking the pills can make you sick also, or restrict what you can do such as drink alcohol and be exposed to sunlight ( hello ! sounds like a good holiday, no booze and no sun ).

Definitley watch out for Dengue though , Got it once and it was nightmare. Some people go temporarily blind from it. Just make sure you cover up at dawn and dusk if you are outside. Use coils. Plugin things that go in your plug sockets. A mosquito electric bat ( very satisfying ), and sprays. I don't use sprays myself because they're quite expensive and they can burn the skin a little bit ,but try to get one with at least 40 % DEET .

the troubadour

For example when sweating we often put our hand to our forehead to wipe away the perspiration.then we inadvertitly touch our mouths our whatever not good as neither is allowing it into our bloodstream.
With the use of rather powerful chemicals and that's what after all the make up is,I for one act on the side of caution,in the sense of reframing from using apart from areas where the risk is just too great.

That does not include Malaysia,Thailand,Laos nor most of Cambodia at least for me.

Did take in parts of Indonesia and Africa, pills as well as spray. Still have doubts with regards pills but is rather debatable but my understanding is they are not entirely affective and side effects can be pretty awful.

One place folk forget to take care and are vulnerable is after a shower. A lesson impressed on me in Africa.