Doxycycline for Malaria

Doxycycline is a tetracycline antibiotic, prescription-only medication. It’s used to treat bacterial infections, and also to provide effective protection against malaria if you’re travelling to high-risk areas. For malaria, it needs to be taken before, during, and after travelling, and is available to adults and children over the age of 12.

Doxycycline is a tetracycline antibiotic and works as a way of preventing a malaria infection. When you're bitten by an infected mosquito, the malaria parasite affects your red blood cells. Then, when the parasite multiplies in the red blood cells a malaria infection can start. Doxycycline gets in the way of the lifecycle of this parasite by stopping it making a certain type of ‘Plasmodium’ proteins. This stops the malaria parasite from multiplying effectively, which stops any infection from happening.

The dosage of doxycycline used to treat malaria is 100mg. At ZAVA, we offer a variety of pack sizes of doxycycline capsules, based on how long you plan to travel for. The course for malaria involves taking one tablet per day for up to at least 2 days before you enter a high-risk area, and for 4 weeks after you leave a high-risk area.

To take doxycycline for malaria:

• You should start taking your medication at least 2 days before you enter a high-risk area, but ideally you should start a week beforehand to see how you get on with it, in case you get any side effects.
• It should be taken every day that you’re in an area that has a high risk of malaria, and for another 4 weeks after leaving.
• If you miss a dose, you should take it as soon as you remember. If it’s very close to the time you are due to take your next dose, you can just take your next dose as planned and skip the missed dose.
• You should be careful and try to take every dose on time, because missing doses will decrease your protection, making it more likely you could get malaria.
• If you vomit or have severe diarrhoea within an hour of taking a dose, you should take a second dose, because your first dose won’t have been absorbed into your bloodstream.
• If you feel sick or have stomach pain when taking doxycycline, it might help to try taking it with food.
• You should take your daily doxycycline tablet with a glass of water and at least 30 mins before lying down or going to bed to reduce the risk of stomach irritation and nausea.
• Take doxycycline 2-3 hours before taking any other products that contains aluminium, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, or bismuth subsalicylate (such as antacids, didanosine, quinapril, vitamin and mineral tablets, dairy products, and calcium-enriched juices). Any of these may stop doxycycline from being absorbed properly, which can reduce your malaria protection.
• You should avoid sun exposure as far as possible when taking doxycycline as this will make your skin more at risk of burning.

People at risk of malaria include anyone travelling to, or living in, a country where there is a risk of malaria.

Young children have a higher risk of catching malaria, even if they live in the countries where malaria is common. This is because they won’t have a fully-developed immune system. Only children over the age of 12 can take doxycycline, so if there are younger children travelling with you, speak with your doctor about the risks and what you need to do to avoid malaria, including alternative medications

Pregnant women who live and travel to places where malaria is common also have a higher risk of getting infected, because they have a weaker immune system while they’re pregnant, but doxycycline is not recommended in pregnancy.

It’s important to visit your local travel clinic, or get an assessment from a doctor or online doctor service as soon as you know where you’ll be travelling to. This will make sure you can take the right treatments on time to protect against malaria. To check whether you need to take preventative malaria treatment, see the Travel Health Pro website.

If you’re travelling to an area where malaria is common, we recommend you use antimalarial tablets to avoid a malaria infection. Doxycycline can be a good choice for anyone over the age of 12, who isn’t pregnant or breastfeeding.

During your assessment for malaria treatment, a doctor will check your medical history. They will ask if you’re taking other medications or if you have other health conditions. This is because other medications could interact with your preferred treatment making it unsafe, and alternative malaria treatments, like malarone should then be considered.

Be aware that no malaria treatment is 100% effective and you should always take other precautions to prevent malaria infections.

You shouldn’t drink alcohol while taking doxycycline, because it can increase the risk of damage to the liver and could make it less effective. But you can take Doxycycline with a meal because it isn’t affected by food. In some cases, taking Doxycycline with food can actually help avoid the side effect of stomach irritation.

• Difficulty swallowing
• Sore tongue and mouth
• Loss of appetite
• Rectal (back passage) or genital itching
• Discolouration of thyroid tissue
• Bowel and liver inflammation
• Discolouration and, in children, underdevelopment of teeth
• Inflammation of the membrane around the heart