Travel Treatments

Travelling to different climates and environments exposes your body to health and disease risks that you haven’t had the chance to build any immunity to. This is why it’s important to ensure you are fully immunised before you take a trip, especially as some illnesses and diseases can be fatal.

The two most common illnesses that affect travellers are malaria and diarrhoea, though they’re vastly different. Malaria is caused by a parasite that’s spread by mosquito bites and is more common in some parts of the world than others, such as Africa and Asia. Diarrhoea plagues at least half of travellers and can be contracted anywhere in the world. It’s caused by bacteria picked up, usually because of poor hygiene, or as a result of being infected with a more serious bacteria or parasite that causes illnesses such as cholera, typhoid fever and salmonella.

Prescription treatments

Diarrhoea and malaria can both be successfully prevented and treated using certain prescription medications. These medications are available to buy online from HealthExpress, after completing a short consultation.

Malarone

Malarone is an antimalarial drug that has been licensed since 1997. Manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, Malarone is popular with people travelling to destinations where malaria is showing an increased resistance to another drug called chloroquine.

This is a convenient and easy way to protect against malaria; you should take Malarone just one to two days before arriving in a malaria zone. Once there, you’ll only need to take one tablet per day during your visit and take it for seven days after.

Paludrine/Avloclor

The Paludrine/Avloclor antimalarial travel pack contains two different tablets which prevent malaria. The Paludrine tablets contain the active ingredient proguanil hydrochloride and the Avloclor tablets contain chloroquine phosphate. Both work to stop the malaria parasite from reproducing once it’s reached the red blood cells.

They are taken in combination to prevent malaria; the Paludrine tablet is taken every day and the Avloclor tablet is taken just once a week. The dose should be taken one week before travelling to a malaria zone, and for four weeks after leaving.

Because Paludrine/Avloclor has been around for a while, malaria is resistant to it in certain parts of the world. You should be very specific when telling your doctor where you are going on holiday, to make sure Paludrine/Avloclor is effective in the area you’re staying.

Doxycycline

Doxycycline is an antibiotic which acts as an antimalarial. It’s popular because it’s cheaper than other antimalarials and has the added bonus of treating acne. Doxycycline is prescribed for areas where malaria is resistant to another antimalarial called chloroquine. It should be taken one day before arriving at the malaria area, taken for the duration of your stay and for a month after leaving.

Doxycycline works by interfering with the bacteria’s ability to produce essential proteins. This stops the bacteria from growing, which means it can’t multiply and increase in numbers. This stops the spread of malaria so that the immune system can kill the remaining bacteria.

Travellers’ Diarrhoea Pack

The Travellers’ Diarrhoea Pack contains everything you need to provide relief from the symptoms of diarrhoea. As part of the Travellers’ Diarrhoea Pack, you can take Ciproxin. This is an antibiotic that stops bacteria from repairing itself and treats diarrhoea.

Dioralyte sachets are included in the Travellers’ Diarrhoea Pack. They contain salts that help replace the bodily fluids and salts that the body loses when suffering from diarrhoea. This helps the body to recover, by replacing levels of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium citrate and carbohydrates.

Imodium is also contained in the Travellers’ Diarrhoea Pack. This helps with short-term diarrhoea because it slows down intestinal contractions. This allows your body to absorb more fluids and nutrients from the food and liquids consumed, making stools less frequent and preventing dehydration.

Buccastem provides almost immediate relief from nausea and vomiting associated with diarrhoea. It prevents messages from the brain being sent to the area which controls nausea and vomiting, stopping you from being sick.

Buying travel medications online

We know that a lot of stress goes into planning a holiday, but we can make it as simple as possible to help you organise your travel treatment essentials. You can complete a quick and easy online consultation with one of our registered doctors, who will assess your suitability for the medication. This process ensures that you are safe and suitable for the medication by helping you to receive a confidential and accurate diagnosis.