Malaria is prevalent in some of the most beautiful holiday destinations in South Africa. Unfortunately your annual family holiday to these areas could end in tragedy if you don’t take the proper precautions and preventative measures against the disease.

Malaria: a real menace

Malaria kills more than a million people worldwide every year. In fact, malaria, tuberculosis and Aids together killed more people in the last 50 years than the combined death toll of all the wars during the same time. And the worrying thing is that malaria deaths in South Africa are on the increase. This has led to the re-introduction of the use of the controversial poison agent DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane). The increase in malaria deaths can be ascribed to the greater incidence of chloroquine-resistant malaria, as well as to the fact that many visitors to malaria areas take insufficient precautions or do not continue with their medication after leaving the area. Malaria is often also incorrectly diagnosed as flu.

Malaria is caused by a parasite, transmitted to humans by the female mosquito. The symptoms of malaria include nausea, fever, headaches, sweating, cold shivers and bodily aches and pains.

The most important weapon in the fight against malaria is prevention. This consists of two things – the taking of preventative medication and the prevention of mosquito bites.

Medication

No medicinal therapy is 100% effective, but some can go a long way towards preventing malaria.

The drug malarone (a combination of atovaquone and proguanil) is currently the medicine of choice when travelling to areas and regions where chloroquine-resistant malaria exists.

The antibiotic doxycycline can also be used in areas of chloroquine resistance.

Chloroquine is generally very safe and has few side-effects, but is not effective anymore in regions where the malarial parasites have become chloroquine-resistant.

Mefloquine is considered to be the best alternative to chloroquine, but should not be taken by people who have known psychiatric disorders or epilepsy.

The medicines described above are the most common medication in the fight against malaria, but scientists point out that many forms of the disease are becoming resistant to existing drugs.

Fortunately, the world’s most advanced, first anti-malaria vaccine has been approved by European regulators, despite mixed trial results, for eventual use in children in African countries plagued by the killer disease. Although not perfect yet, the vaccine will become a major component of malaria prevention.

Other methods of prevention

It is important to apply other methods of prevention with preventative medication. The following tips are useful:

    • Wear clothing with long sleeves and cover your ankles – especially at dawn and dusk when mosquitoes are most active.
    • Use long-lasting insecticide sprays inside homes and buildings.
    • Place wire or gauze screens on all doors and windows.
    • Keep a fan on in the room during the night – the current seems to ward off the mosquitoes.
    • Apply mosquito repellents directly to the skin.
    • Use mosquito netting over the beds – they can also be soaked in certain types of insecticide.
    • Spend evenings indoors rather than outdoors – you are much less likely to get bitten by mosquitoes.
    • Blankets and even clothing treated with mosquito repellents are useful.

 

Sources

Malaria. Retrieved from: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/malaria-prevention
Malaria vaccine gets regulatory nod from Europe. 2015. Retrieved from:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/f599296bc5553aefb29e66313e682e71.htm

 

Revised by M van Os