Other health risks
Travellers´ diarrhoea
Other always present danger for a traveller in Bolivia is travellers´ diarrhoea. This can ruin your holiday, so take care with food and water hygiene. Avoid high risk foods such as salads, shellfish, raw / undercooked meat and fish and unpasteurised dairy products. Drink bottled water with intact seals or boil / purify water. You may wish to consider taking a treatment pack with you containing an antidiarrhoeal agent such as loperamide (always read the instructions) and an antibiotic such as ciprofloxacin
Malaria
Malaria is a dangerous disease that is spread by mosquitoes that bite from dusk to dawn. In Bolivia malaria is present only in certain areas. If you are travelling only to Coroico and Chulumani the risk of malaria is nearly non existent. It is also unlikely that you would be infected by malaria in city of Santa Cruz and in Chiquitania. However, there is never such thing as never. Please consult with your travel advisor or medical practitioner before you travel on the recommended antimalarials drugs available in your country.
There is a risk of malaria in rural areas below 2,500 metres in the departments of Beni, Pando, Santa Cruz and Tarija, and in the provinces of Lacareja, Rurenabaque, and North and South Yungas in La Paz Department. Lower risk exists in departments of Cochabamba and Chuquisaca. Travellers to the Amazon Basin area of Bolivia (northern departments bordering Brazil) and particularly the localities of Guayaramerin, Puerto Rico and Riberalta are advised that there is a higher risk of resistant malaria. The recommended antimalarial drugs in these areas are mefloquine, doxycycline or Malarone.
Be aware that most of the antimalarial drugs should be started to be taken at least 1 week before entering the first malarial area of your journey and continue them regularly until at least 4 weeks after leaving the last malarial country.
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