Visiting Koh Samui: Should I Take Malarials?

Beware of the mosquitos in Koh Samui 

There is no need for you to take malarials if your trip to Thailand is confined to a stay at ShaSa Resort on Koh Samui. This resort island is one of the major Thai tourist destinations wherein visitors and locals face an extremely minimal risk of contracting the mosquito-borne malaria disease. Major Thai cities like the capital Bangkok and other travel hotspots such as Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai are also malaria-free.

However, there’s a possibility of encountering malaria in other places, such as in Koh Pha Ngan, an island north of Koh Samui. Travelling to Thai rural areas, particularly those bordering Burma, Cambodia, and Laos, could also bring you into contact with malaria-carrying mosquitoes, and hence, it would be advisable for visitors taking a trip to these places to take malarials.

Follow what the doctors say

Seek the advice of a qualified or certified medical professional on the best malarial to take if your Koh Samui itinerary extends to areas that are risk-prone to malaria. Be sure to obtain medical advice a good number of days prior to your trip, as some anti-malaria solutions need to be taken early enough in order for them to be effective.

It is also important to consider that malarials don’t provide total protection from the disease. What some solutions can give you is the lead time to go to a hospital and seek further medical treatment should the malaria virus invade your system.

Plain common sense works

Some simple precautions can also be adopted to lessen the risk of contracting malaria or other mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever. One logical approach is wearing long pants and long-sleeved shirts. It is also advisable to avoid wearing dark-colored and bulky clothing.

Applying insect repellants on exposed areas of the body, particularly on wilderness visits, is also advised. Give preference to well-kept accommodations which observe the rudiments of household pest control. Lodging in rooms, which are adequately screened or sealed, is another smart move.

When staying in mosquito-infested areas, sleeping inside mosquito nets would be another common-sense approach to lessen the risk of malaria infection. Mosquito coils and similar insect-control devices can also be life-savers as malaria can be fatal if left untreated.