A long time ago, people in North America would get wide eyed looks of horror and concern when I told them I'd had malaria - multiple times. (And also typhoid, giardia, and intestinal worms - all at the same time- and I had been sick for three years). The ignorant would even sometimes move away suddenly, as if they weren't quite sure which of those diseases they could or couldn't get from sitting next to me. Sometimes they would ask if the malaria could come back, and I told them that yes, some kinds can go dormant in your liver for years and then pop back out for unknown reasons. I sometimes told them that I had taken an "eradication course" of a medication that was supposed to kill of those dormant forms, and I hoped that it had worked. And yes, if they asked, I told them that I knew people who had died of malaria. I wonder sometimes how these same people who were horrified by the very word "malaria" would react if I met them again. And told them that #Covid is airborne, while malaria is not (unless you count flying mosquito vectors as "airborne"). I wonder their eyes would widen and if the same horrified expression would cross their faces if/when they realised that the illnesses they've probably had multiple times by now is much more contagious than malaria, and could even now be hiding out in their bodies, damaging their organs, and waiting to pop out and kill them unexpectedly in the future. But no, I probably won't meet them again, and I won't tell them, and they won't realise. Until it's too late. #CovidIsNotOver
@ExpatRepeat Yes, the wide-eyed looks. I've had malaria back in the 1990s. Weird disease. And it's coming to the U.S. thanks to climate change.
@shuttersparks yeah, it's been awhile since I've had it, but I would really prefer not to repeat the experience! I've been following those stories of locally-acquired malaria in Texas and Florida and trying not to think too hard about the ramifications of all that...
@ExpatRepeat Yeah, the fact that I've had it means nothing because there's no immunity. And here in the U.S., drugs are tightly controlled so I can't even access the medications I need if I catch it again.
Time is of the essence with malaria. Waiting for ages for a doctors appointment so I can get a scrip for the meds will be too late and I'll end up with chronic malaria.
When I had it the first time I was not in the U.S. and I could just walk to the pharmacy and buy all the chloroquine I wanted.
@shuttersparks absolutely. When I lived in Africa, it was a regular thing to walk to the pharmacy and buy whatever you needed. I usually bought enough for a couple of courses of treatment whenever I was coming back to North America - just in case I had a relapse compliments of dormant forms in my liver, or even just getting infected in the few days before I departed Africa. And several malaria treatments aren't even approved by the FDA (or weren't then; maybe that's changed), and some of them probably shouldn't be approved by the FDA (Larium...). But I was shocked to hear that there was a Chloroquine/hydroxychloriquine shortage back when so many people thought it would prevent them from getting covid. 😩
@ExpatRepeat Yeah, the medications thing here in the U.S.A. is very weird and I'm not sure why it is that way. Everything is tightly controlled with criminal penalties.
I remember the first time I spent a summer in Europe in the 1960s. I was in Germany and ran out of my prescription allergy meds. Went into an Apotheke and explained my problem to the pharmacist. (I spoke fluent German). "Ermagherd, I ran out and don't have my prescription." The pharmacist seemed puzzled and asked me what it was. I told him and he came back with the little yellow and white capsules, and asked how many I wanted. My jaw dropped. And then I realized that I was the weirdo, coming from a place where pharmaceuticals and alcohol were tightly controlled. I realized that nobody thought twice about my 15 year-old self having a beer in a Bierstube. Ahhh. I'm starting to get it.
Then lived in Guatemala for almost 15 years. You can buy anything you want at the pharmacy. And it's the freshest you'll find because the 40 some-odd pharma companies all have their primary manufacturing in Guatemala City. And cheap! In the case of 4th generation antibiotics that you pay $30 a pill for in the U.S., it's like 80 cents. Hahaha. A full course of Mebendazol is under a dollar. Wait. What?
Interestingly, there's no noticeable drug problem there. The only drug problem I was aware of was some extremely poor street youths were sniffing glue/solvents (which is extremely bad of course). No visible opioid problem.
So yeah, I'm not impressed with how things work in the U.S. On the other hand, yes, in Guatemala you are expected to act responsibly. Your safety is on you. The government will not protect you from yourself. And yet there are no significant problems. Interesting.
@shuttersparks I guess I always assumed that it was primarily driven by the lawsuit-happy culture of the U.S., especially in medicine. That may not explain all of it, but I imagine it's a significant contributor. And they claim that they have to fund all of the R & D so that drives up the prices too, but I don't think that's all of it either. And a culture of regulation and assumptions that things have been tested soooooo much that they are utterly safe by the time they get to market (not necessarily true, but whatever). Sigh.