What is Malaria?
Malaria is a tropical disease that can be serious and is spread by the bite of a mosquito. If it is not diagnosed and treated right away, it can be fatal.
What Causes Malaria?
Malaria is caused by the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito. It is caused by the plasmodium parasite, of which there are many types – but only 5 types of this parasite actually cause malaria: plasmodium falciparum, vivax, ovale, malariae and knowlesi.
Can Malaria be prevented?
Whilst there is no vaccine against malaria available in the UK, there are indeed antimalarial medications that can reduce your risk of infection by 90%.
Who should take Antimalarial drugs?
You should take antimalarial drugs if you are planning to visit an area where there is malaria. You should take precautions, along with taking antimalarial medications in preparation for your trip. Even after you have your antimalarial drugs, you should also:
- Use air conditioning, with screens on doors and windows
- If air conditioning is not available, sleep under a mosquito net
- Use insecticide at all times, even when sleeping
- Wear long sleeved-loose fitting clothing – especially at dusk and at night when mosquitoes are most likely to bite
Symptoms of Malaria
You should be aware of the symptoms of malaria if you are travelling to an area where there’s a high risk of becoming infected. Symptoms generally appear between seven and eighteen days after initial infection. In rarer cases, symptoms may not appear for up to a year or longer though infection can be confirmed by a blood test.
Symptoms include:
- High temperature (38 +)
- Fever/Chills
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Vomiting/Diarrhoea
Anna Pharmacy has your needed antimalarial medications at our vaccination clinics in Carshalton.
