{"id":12632,"date":"2017-08-24T01:37:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T01:37:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sizani\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\/"},"modified":"2021-04-15T09:52:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T09:52:52","slug":"1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sizani\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\/","title":{"rendered":"Baggage malaria: the uninvited guest in your suitcase"},"content":{"rendered":"

People all over the world and in the most unlikely areas have recently been diagnosed with malaria even though they did not set foot in a malaria area. Here’s how those pesky mozzies made the journey to get to them.<\/p>\n

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\n
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Uninvited travel companions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Travelling from one area or country to another by road, sea, rail, air or even taxi bus has become an easy way to see the world and visit relatives. Unfortunately these and other modes of travel have become the route followed by infectious malaria mosquitoes to hitch a ride to non-endemic malaria areas such as the USA and Europe and, recently, Pretoria and Kempton Park.<\/p>\n

How do they do it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In December 1997, a 67-year-old lady was admitted to a hospital in Darmstadt County, Germany with very strange symptoms. It took nine days and many tests before her concerned doctors realised that she had contracted malaria. She spent 160 days in hospital and nearly died. How did the malaria mosquito get to her when she had neither travelled to a malaria area nor visited any international airports?<\/p>\n

Researchers and doctors identified the following possibilities:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • \n
      \n
    • Suitcase or baggage malaria where the infected mosquito may have been “imported” from a malaria area via someone else’s baggage. In fact, doctors found out later that a man who had recently returned from a trip to Kenya contracted malaria and was admitted to the same hospital in Darmstadt as the lady mentioned above.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • \n
          \n
        • Airport malaria where infected mosquitoes are transported in either the baggage or the wheel bays of foreign aircraft and released when the bays are opened during approach to landing. They can survive for up to nine hours in the wheel bays and are able to fly more than two kilometres to find a human victim. The abovementioned lady’s home was located in the approach corridor of Frankfurt Airport.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
          • \n
              \n
            • Runway malaria where infected mosquitoes fly into aircraft on stopovers at airports in malaria-endemic countries or areas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                \n
              • \n
                  \n
                • Non-mosquito-born forms of malaria such as blood transfusions, bone-marrow transplants and needle stick transmissions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                  What’s being done about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  In South Africa, according to the public health regulations, aeroplanes need to be disinfected before they are opened and both the pilots and Ministry of Health officials must enforce these rules. Internationally, over 80 countries follow the aircraft-disinfection recommendations of the World Health Organisation.<\/p>\n

                  What can you do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  Apart from taking anti-malaria medication and other precautions when visiting malaria risk areas, be especially careful not to transport the mosquitoes back home in your car or baggage.<\/p>\n

                  However, if you do come down with the following symptoms even if you have not been in a malaria risk area, ask your doctor for a malaria blood test:<\/p>\n

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                  • \n
                      \n
                    • Flu symptoms that do not clear up despite medication<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                        \n
                      • \n
                          \n
                        • Sudden high fever of unknown origin<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                            \n
                          • \n
                              \n
                            • Severe headaches, sweating, shivering attacks, nausea, diarrhoea and fatigue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                              Malaria, although relatively easy to treat if diagnosed early, can be fatal if it is not diagnosed and treated at an early stage; especially baggage and airport malaria!<\/p>\n

                               <\/p>\n

                              Sources
                              \n<\/strong>Baggage malaria. Retrieved from: http:\/\/wordspy\/words\/baggage malaria.asp
                              \nIsaacson, M & Frean, JA. 2001. African malaria vectors in European aircraft. The Lancet<\/em>, vol.357 (9251), p.235
                              \nPraetorius, F. et al. Acute renal failure after an unusual mode of infection with falciparum malaria (\u201cbaggage malaria\u201d). Retrieved from: http:\/\/ndt.oxfordjournals.org\/content\/16\/3\/628.full<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                               <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                               <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

                               <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                              People all over the world and in the most unlikely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-your-wellness-environment"],"yoast_head":"\nBaggage malaria: the uninvited guest in your suitcase - Sizani<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Baggage malaria: the uninvited guest in your suitcase - Sizani\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"People all over the world and in the most unlikely [...]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sizani\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sizani\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-24T01:37:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-04-15T09:52:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yourlifeassist.co.za\\\/sizani\\\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yourlifeassist.co.za\\\/sizani\\\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Baggage malaria: the uninvited guest in your suitcase\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-24T01:37:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-04-15T09:52:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yourlifeassist.co.za\\\/sizani\\\/1163-baggage-malaria-the-uninvited-guest-in-your-suitcase1b83\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":567,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/yourlifeassist.co.za\\\/sizani\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Your Wellness - 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