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Is Malaria not an issue on cruises in Central America


Buck Turgidson
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I am not aware of any of the general cruising public being advised to take any preventive medications. Of course that is not to mean that someone with a health issue may be advised to take something. As far as the Canal is concerned is concerned, the area surrounding Panama City up to the southeast bank of the Canal is on the western limit of where the CDC says malaria is present. You are only likely to being a tasty treat for mosquitoes if you in deep woods before dawn and right after sunset. On the Canal you would be hard pressed to find a mosquito and around urban areas you won't have an issue either in Panama or most other places Canal cruises usually stop.

 

The bulk of the cruises to this part of the world occur between December and May, this is generally the drier part of the year. Being drier there is less mosquito activity.

 

For the record I don't play a doctor or entomologist on TV either;)!

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OP: thank you for your service.

 

Depending on your ports and where you will be going on port days, it's possible that you might get into an area where there's malaria risk. The best thing is to consult the CDC web site and a travel clinic.

 

We did have a travel doctor tell us last fall that one of our ports (iirc it was was Corinto, Nicaragua) on our then up-coming Panama Canal cruise was in an area with malaria risk according to the disease maps. She advised us to take prophylactic meds. After considering the possible serious side effects of the meds, and the fact that we were never going to be ashore during non-daylight hours, nor in non-urban areas, we opted to forego the drugs. We did use plenty of repellent. Never saw a mosquito during the entire trip. (This was late Jan./early Feb. )

 

YMMV.

 

Have a wonderful time!

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I remember in the past Malaria was an issue in tropical areas with Panama being one of them. Are cruisers advised to take Malaria pills, Quinine is probably long gone but I'm sure those big orange pills we took in Viet Nam are still around.

Thanks for your service.

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