What is Malaria?
Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and is a potentially fatal disease. It is becoming more widespread as it is becoming increasingly resistant to the drugs used to prevent it.
Malaria is caused by the nighttime biting female mosquitoes (as well as by transfusion of blood). When you are bitten your blood carries the parasites into your liver. You will not know you have malaria at this stage.
Once the parasites enter your bloodstream again you will start to experience symptoms. This stage could be from between 1-3 weeks but sometimes even up to a year).
The malarial parasites will enter and destroy your red blood cells causing extremely uncomfortable effects. These can include kidney failure, vomiting and diarrhoea as they destroy your gut and cerebral malaria as they enter your brain.
These latter stages of malaria can progress extremely quickly so it is important to recognise problems early on.
If you do think you have malaria you should treat it very seriously as the quicker you are treated the quicker you can recover. Malaria can be effectively treated with drugs and symptoms will rapidly disappear with little risk of reoccurance.
Always consult your GP regarding malaria risks.
Ensure you have adequate travel insurance before you travel.