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  • malaria factfile

    Why is Malaria such bad news?

    - here are a few statistics:

    270 million people worldwide have it.
    1-2.5 million people die of it each year. Most are under the age of 5

    1500 - 2000 cases are imported into the UK each year

    There are four main species of malarial parasite:

    Plasmodium Malariae
    P.Vivax (can relapse)
    P.Ovale (can relapse)
    P.falciparum (the most deadly)



  • Malaria Areas


    Where does malaria occur?

    malaria map

    Central and South America
    Haiti & the Dominican Republic
    Africa
    Indian subcontinent
    Southeast Asia
    The Middle East

    Resistance to drugs (ie chloroquine) is common in certain areas. We will advise you of which drugs are suitable for the area you are visiting.

    visit malaria hotspots for up to date malaria information


Malaria Information


The danger within.		 mosquito image
Do you know why you have to take malaria pills for so long after your holiday is over?
It is because of the complex lifecycle of the bug. Long after your holiday is over, if you were bitten by an infected mosquito without realising it, the bugs could be quietly incubating inside you. The only way to kill them off is to take your medication for a month after your return.

Here is a brief summary of what happens:

Once bitten...
A mosquito bites you to suck your blood. During this meal, she leaves behind saliva which contains the malarial parasite. These are then either cleared by your immune system or they migrate to your liver and infect it, sometimes within an hour.

There are normally no symptoms at this stage.

They then multiply for 5.5 to 15 days depending on the variety. Your infected liver cells then burst, releasing the parasite into your bloodstream again. This time you will develop symptoms -
high fever, flu like illness, shaking.

Certain varieties of the malarial parasite can "rest " in the liver cells and can "re-awaken" months or even up to 4 years later, causing fevers
(P.Vivax and probably P.Ovale).

Most people begin to feel ill 10 days to 4 weeks after infection.
Unfortunately, it is not unknown for symptoms to develop up to a year later This is why any traveller who becomes ill with a fever or flu-like illness while travelling and up to 1 year after returning home should immediately seek professional medical care.

Once released into the bloodstream, the parasites attack your red blood cells. P.Falciparum is the most aggressive and gives rise to the most severe kind of malaria, but the others can cause severe symptoms as well. Anaemia can follow as the red blood cells are invaded then burst.
This happens in cycles and occurs every 48 hours in P. falciparum infection, every 48-72 hours in P. vivax and P. ovale infection,
and approximately every 72 hours in P. malariae.

This can cause bouts of high fever every couple of days Toxins are also produced and P. Falciparum causes such damage that kidney failure, seizures, coma and death can occur quite rapidly.

Prevention
All in all its pretty nasty.
So how do you prevent yourself from getting it?

REMEMBER TO TAKE YOUR ANTI-MALARIA PILLS PROPERLY
  • Wear appropriate clothing. - long sleeves and trousers. Has to be fairly thick material.
  • Spray your room or tent before going to bed with flyspray.
  • Use mosquito repellant containing DEET.
  • Try impregnated wrist and ankle bands
  • Air conditioning eliminates mosquitoes in sleeping areas.
  • Sleep in a screened room if possible, otherwise use a mosquito net. Nets impregnated with insecticide (permethrin) are particularly effective. Use a plug-in electric insecticide vapouriser (or smoke coils).
  • Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water wherever this collects (e.g. drains, old tins, open sewers, marshes etc.) so avoid these or cover up. Return from country trips before dark as there is much less risk in towns and cities than in the country.