Malaria information

Malaria is a tropical disease that causes fever that can be fatal if not treated promptly, it is spread by mosquitoes.

Symptoms

The best way to prevent death as a result of malaria is to be able to identify the symptoms. If a person presents with any of these symptoms, they need to be tested and treated for malaria.

• Fever
• General body weakness
• Headache
• Running stomach
• Vomiting
• Bitter taste in the mouth

These symptoms may present within 7 to 18 days after being infected with the disease but at times it may take longer or shorter depending on the degree of infection.

Seeking Medical Attention

If you have been in an area known to have malaria and you present with any of these symptoms, it is important that you immediately seek medical attention. Tests may need to be carried out to confirm if you have the malaria parasite in your blood and treatment should commence immediately.

The malaria parasite can remain in your blood for longer than 18 days without causing symptoms, so even if you were in a malaria prone area a year ago and you present symptoms of the disease, it is important that tests are carried out to find out if it may be malaria.

What Causes Malaria?

The plasmodium parasite causes malaria. The parasite is transmitted from one person to another by a female anopheles mosquito. The female anopheles mosquito feeds on blood and when it sucks the blood of an infected person, it will transmit the parasite to the next person it bites. These mosquitoes mainly feed in the evening and the night. In very rare occasions, malaria can also be spread through blood transfusion and sharing of needles.

Malaria Prone Areas

Malaria is predominantly found in the tropical regions. There are over 100 countries in the world where you can contract malaria. These are:

• Tropical parts of Africa and Asia
• Central America and Southern America
• Dominican Republic and Haiti
• Tropical parts of the Pacific Islands
• Small parts of the Middle East

According to a 2014 World Health Organisation report on malaria, in 2013 there were 198 million cases of malaria reported and over 500 thousand deaths. Although malaria is not found in countries like the UK, there were more than 1 thousand travellers diagnosed with the disease in 2014 and 3 died from it.

Malaria Prevention

Since prevention is better than cure, it is important that the ABCD strategy is followed to prevent the disease.

A-Awareness of risk: Before you travel to any country, find out if you may be at risk of catching malaria.

B-Bite prevention: The most sure way to prevent infection is to avoid being bitten by the mosquitoes. You can do this by wearing clothes that cover most of your body especially in the evenings, sleep under an insecticide treated mosquito net, use insect repellent.

C- Check if you need to take malaria prevention tabs and ensure that you take the right dose and complete it.

D-Diagnosis: if you have any of the symptoms of malaria, seek a quick and accurate diagnosis so that treatment can commence as soon as possible.

Treatment for Malaria

If you are diagnosed with malaria, you should know that it is treatable and you will make a full recovery as long as it is attended to promptly. The treatment of malaria may depend on factors such as what strain of malaria you may have, your body’s reaction to particular medication, whether you are pregnant, if you had taken anti malaria or some other treatment before.

The medical personnel will know what to do once you get to them. Sometimes though you may be given advance treatment for malaria if you may be travelling to an area where there is no access to adequate malaria treatment.

Remember that malaria can be fatal if not treated promptly. In some cases, in can result in sever anaemia or cerebral malaria if the parasite gets to the brain. Pregnant mothers and their unborn babies are also at risk if they contract malaria so prevention is important.