My husband and I (aged 73 and 71) are going to South Africa soon. We stay for a week in the Kruger Park, where malaria is prevalent. Now I’ve heard that taking vitamin B tablets keeps mosquitoes away. Do you also have to take malaria pills?
Vitamin B complex has a distinctive odor that some believe repels mosquitoes. The usual tests, where one arm is put in a cage with mosquitoes, has never been shown to work that way. The same goes for eating garlic.
DEET
The only thing that really repels mosquitoes is DEET: the active ingredient of all active liniments against mosquitoes. But DEET alone is not enough for protection against malaria.
Advice
When traveling to a malaria area, you should always seek advice from a GGD or travel clinic. The need for malaria pills and the choice of pills strongly depend on the area you are going to and sometimes on the time of year. Malaria is a serious, sometimes fatal disease. With many health issues you can be a bit stubborn, but not with this one.
