In Preparation for Landing...

... in Africa, there are many preparations that need to take place when one is getting ready to go on safari. In most cases, these steps would be considered a bit of a nuisance to get done but would not really cause much problems. I, however, do not live in the world of "most cases," I live in Saudi. And as I have discovered, things in Saudi have their own way of working.

After getting my yellow fever vaccine in France, the doctor there asked me what I was going to do about preventing malaria. To be perfectly frank, I had figured, I grew up in countries with malaria and never had a problem so I hadn't really planned on anything, but I told the good doctor that I wasn't sure. "You have to get a prescription for anti-malaria pills. They are a must for someone going on a trip like yours." Ok, I thought, I'll ask the doctor in Saudi when I get back. That seemed to put the doctor at ease and he let me go.

Upon arrival at KAUST I called the clinic and made an appointment to get my anti-malaria pill prescription. I showed up on time, paid in advance for my consultation and patiently waited for the doctor to see me. She called me into a room where I sat on a chair and explained that I was going on safari in Tanzania and I needed anti-malaria pills. "When are you leaving?" she asked. I told her my flight leaves the 24th. "Good! You are the first person to ask for these pills in time." Great! So she explained to me that what she was prescribing for me was a pill I needed to take once a week, starting two weeks before my trip, during the length of my trip, and eight weeks after my trip. So a total of 12 weeks of medication. Sounds like a lot of poison, I thought, but ok. She pulls up my file on her computer and notes "Patient going on safari. Prescribed X drug for malaria prophylaxis."

So I go to the pharmacy, get my prescription and go to work. At work, I go online, just to make sure that the doctor has given me the right medication (as I've mentioned in previous posts, the health care system in Saudi is well... not perfect. Fortunately it is also very cheap...). Well, good thing I did. According the CDC website, the main ingredient in the pills she had prescribed was the one thing the malaria in Tanzania is resistant to. So I call the clinic again and ask to speak to the doctor. I explain to the doctor that I have looked up the pills on the CDC website and that I can't take these pills because the malaria in Tanzania is resistant to them. "Oh, you're going to TANZANIA! In that case, can you come back? I can prescribe something else."

I excuse myself from work, go back to the clinic and see the doctor again. She had also pulled up the CDC website and was trying to figure out which of the medicines they recommend is actually available in Saudi. Fortunately, there is one. She tells me that I will have to start taking this pills two days before my trip and take them everyday while on the trip and for four weeks after I return. She pulls up my chart on her computer and adds a note in my file that says "Patient going to Tennessee, with medication X resistant malaria, prescribing medication Y." I didn't realize that Tennessee was in Africa, much less that it had drug resistant malaria, but I figured I'd let that one go.

At least the medication I have now is on the CDC website as something I should be taking. It also, however, says that this medication can cause nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to sunlight, and in some cases can cause severe allergic reactions, vision changes and discoloration of teeth. And it's not even guaranteed to prevent malaria! So, we'll see how this goes.