What are the Malaria Symptoms?

If you have malaria symptoms and are in or have just returned from a country known for this disease you should seek medical help to get the appropriate medicine for treatment. These malaria disease symptoms include:

• Fever
• Flu-like symptoms
• Chills
• Headache
• Muscle aches
• Tiredness
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

If you do not get treatment for the illness with the right drugs, it can lead to anemia and jaundice, which is a yellow coloring of the skin and eyes. This is because of the red blood cells that are lost. If you have a certain type of malaria- Plasmodium falciparum- prompt treatment with the right medicine is necessary because this can cause kidney failure, seizures, coma and even death. In fact this disease is the leading cause of death from infectious diseases in many tropical countries.

What can I do to prevent this condition?

Symptoms of the malaria disease are caused by a bite from the Aedes mosquito. It may take weeks or months for the symptoms to manifest and even then people do not realize that they have malaria. In order to keep from getting the disease, travellers would be well advised to take malaria drugs before they travel. Other preventative measures to take when in a foreign country are to use insect repellent and to sleep under mosquito netting at night. Mosquito repellent that contains Deet is the best to use to keep from contracting the disease.

Malaria prevention treatment means taking certain prescription drugs such as:

• Chloroquine or Mefloquine- you will have to take a pill every week starting two weeks before you travel, while you are in the foreign country and for 4 weeks after you return.
• Doxycycline – this drug requires you to take a pill every day, starting two days before your departure date and ending 4 weeks after you return home.

If you do come down with this disease your doctor can prescribe the medicine you need to recover. You have to follow the instructions and keep taking the drugs even after the symptoms have disappeared. Be mindful that you can still have a recurrence a year later, even with appropriate medication.

For more information please visit the CDC Malaria Home Page, and the Malaria Foundation.