"William Black" wrote:
>
> Malaria medication can have some nasty side-effects,
> =A0especially if taken for longer than eight weeks or so.
Plus they each have their trade-offs. FWIW, one of them (I forget
which: its the one that is one pill per week) has a side effect
warning of "vivid dreams" ... this is a polite way of saying
"nightmares". I've taken this stuff, and I found that my balance was
off on the day after taking it (got less bad over time).
> In India I find that decent anti-insect discipline...
> ...and rub on DEET (about 30% works, =A0anything over 50%
> irritates my skin) about an hour before dusk if going out of doors.
DEET is a known carcinogen, so it is wise to limit your exposure
instead of bathing in the stuff. This means to be aware of both how
many hours/day its on your skin, as well as the concentration level in
use.
The recommended maximum concentration is now around 33%, which will
provide protection for around 2/3rds as long as the full 100%
concentration does. As far as how many hours per application this is
worth depends on which numbers you believe, but figure it to be 8hrs
if you believe that 100% lasts 12hrs, or 5-6hrs vs 8hrs.
In general, use good prevention techniques of tucking in pants legs,
putting protective stuff on clothing, etc, to minimize the actual
amount of skin in contact with DEET, and then plan your application
times to allign with times of higher exposure risk (dawn, dusk,
etc).
BTW, particularly when you get above 50% DEET, the nastiness of this
chemical will damage plastics (etch & craze). Be particularly aware
of hand contact with your camera. This doesn't mean that 30%
concentration can't cause damage, but rather that it won't do it quite
as quickly or severely as higher concentration stuff.
-hh |