Anyone advise of any extra precautions for infants?

I am travelling in 8 weeks with a one year old, she has had all necessary uk injections, including TB.

Local surgery advised nothing extra was needed, but im getting a bit worried about Malaria/dengie , can anything be taken to prevent dengie?

Also can infants take anti malaria medication, surgery said not?????

My local surgery is crap, reckon i will seek further advise.

quote:

Also can infants take anti malaria medication, surgery said not?????

Infants should not take Malaria prophylaxis just use a mossie net and be sensible.

We took our son lots of times when small (1 month , 3 months, 8 months) etc no problems at all. Just take Calpol (Thai calpol tastes different) and enjoy.

Enjoy and stop being worried

ash

As Ash has said,the best prophylactic is not to get bitten. Bear in mind that dengue carrying mossies are day-time biters.

My two boys (2 and 5 yo.) have had Hep A inoculations for this years trip to LOS. This was the recommendation from the GP travel vaccination nurse.

Further to my previous post I have spoken with the team of doctors at my workplace who monitor Lariam(a roche anti malarial drug) and if you are going to a high risk area in Thailand then your GP can give your child a prophylactic but there are potentially serious side effects with most drugs.

As I said we have travelled with our son many times without problems, taking simple precautions against him being bitten.

another useful article from http://priory.com/malaria.htm#g
Malaria and children

Children are unable to tolerate certain antimalarials due to toxicities unique for them. some of the safest and most palatable antimalarials for children are not available in the USA.23 Most of the fatalities occur in infants and children under the age of 5 years.In the past 5 years sporadic cases of drug resistant Plasmodium vivax malaria in Indonesia,IrianJaya and Papua New Guinea have been reported especially in children.Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium malariae remain susceptible to most antimalarial agents. Prophylaxis in children as in adults is to use nonpharmacologic protective strategies. Because of rare reports of toxic encephalopathy and seizures,repellents containing DEET should be used judiciously in children. They should be applied to exposed clothing but not to mucous membranes,open wounds or hands.Repellents should be washed off when children come indoors to protected areas. Doxycycline is contraindicated in children under the age of 12 years and the safety of mefloquine has not been established in children weighing less than 15kgs14. Chloroquine remains the prophylactic of choice in areas of no Chloroquine resistance such as the Middle East, Central America and the Caribbean.For young children unable to take pills pulverised powder may be mixed with food.Chloroquine is quite bitter and more palatable alternatives eg Chloroquine suspension(Nivaquine)may be substituted.Chloroquine suspension is not available in the USA.Prophylaxis commences 1-2weeks prior to departure and must continue for 4 weeks after returning home.14
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Protective Measures

* Spray properly screened room with insecticide before evening.
* Wear protective clothing
* Minimise nocturnal exposure
* Sleep in screened areas.
* Use mosquito netting and check for holes in the net.
* DEET insect repellents may be applied to exposed skin.
* 30ml of DEET in 250ml water to impregnate cotton garments.
* Electronic buzzers are not effective.
* Use permethrin-containing pesticide for clothing and mosquito netting 0.2g/m2 of material every 6 months.
* Use pyrethrum-containing sprays and mosquito coils.
* Long sleeved clothing and long trousers should be worn if out of doors
* after sunset.
* Refined lemon eucalyptus oil is also repellent on the skin. 2


ash

This link might add to the confusion but contains useful data http://wwwn.cdc.gov/travel/yellowBookCh4-Malaria.aspx