Hi everyone,

I'll be arriving in Yunnan to teach soon. During my stay there I'll want to get out and about around Yunnan. I've heard that Malaria in Yunnan is potentially quite serious in some of the more rural areas.

Can anybody living there tell me if this is the case? And if so, are malaria tablets readily available?

Many thanks.

Yes, it is quite serious in the rural areas, also in Kunming. If it is very serious, the tablets sometimes do not work, because the weather here allows the bad bacteria survive.

hi there

I'm going to be arriving in yunnan in 2 weeks and so i visited the travel clinic here in preparation for my trip. They said that yunnan is a high-risk malaria area and have prescribed malaria tablets for the entire duration of my visit, as well as a month after. They also mentioned that i should use mosquito repellent (with DEET) several times a day. Hope that helps!

I think the above but one post is unnecessarily alarming. Kunming is NOT a malarial area. Doctors tend to lump the whole of Yunnan province together partly through lack of knowledge but mostly to err on the side of caution. The places to watch out are Xishuangbanna and Ruili (and even then it is not as high risk as many parts of Laos and Thailand).

Instead of taking malaria pills the whole time you are here, you can ask your clinic about malarone, which is a 3-day pill treatment in the rare case that you actually get malaria. Kunming isn't high risk because of the altitude, but like greginchina said, parts of xishuangbanna and ruili might be higher risk in the summer months.

True that. Haven't heard of any of the foreigners I know here who's contracted malaria so far. I too heard before I came here that Kunming is malaria-country but it really isn't and anyway the medicine used for treatment here is cheap. A LOT cheaper than the tablets you need to take continously to avoid catching it.

Thanks to everyone for the replies - I feel a bit safer now. Also, I just realised that I misspelt Malaria. I'm glad you guys knew what I was talking about!

you worried too much, as a matter of fact, in Kunming, or in the jungle of southern Xishuangbaba, the human outnumbers moskitos!.

http:www.12visitchina.com

Greginchina, I hope you are right in saying there is no malaria in Kunming, because I was bitten by a mosquito for the last three nights (probably the same one!) I finally got the culprit this morning.

Kunmingsunshine, can we buy malarone in KUNMING? I would like to have something along for tropical travels.

Also does anyone here know of a good English speaking doctor just in case of whatever?