Malaria - Tourism
Once upon a time there
occurred a discussion about safety for working abroad, and at one point Malaria
was mentioned.
Malaria, a fellow of
mine proposed, can be likened to a stronger flu.
Myself, I cannot
wholly support this statement. Malaria is the only time where you feel you are
freezing while staying in the tropes. You will want to cover yourself with all
the blankets of the world, and those blankets as you may find in the tropes will
not be able to provide any solace. Of course, at the same moment, your body
will be a burning furnace and you will be sweating rivers. While you are trying
to puzzle out, if you are going to freeze to death, or burn to death, it is
advised to place a bucket in a strategic location – I would propose a maximum
distance of 20 cm / 1 foot from your head. The topping is provided by a
splitting headache, but that will be the least of your worries.
Once the Malaria had
peaked, and there is always this peak after which you get better, I always felt
ecstatic. At this point, I felt like jumping and running around, just from the
joy of feeling how healthy your body is. Often, I did not only feel like that,
I actually became hyperactive, talking nonsense and moving about. Yes, you feel
weakened and probably the headache is still there – but that is nothing like
before. Actually, that is just about how a flu here in Switzerland feels like.
But what does the
doctor prescribe?
Of the four different types
of Malaria, Plasmodium falciparum can lead to death within a couple of days.
Therefore, the tropical doctor suggests that if you have been to a place where
there are malaria inducing mosquitos, and you have a real fever and no
opportunity to be diagnosed by a doctor within 24-48 hours, you should
self-medicate by taking antibiotics in combination with fatty food (for example
milk). Medicaments such as Chloroquin in
the central Americas, Atovaquon/Proguanil, Artemether/Lumefantrin in other
regions are mentioned.
Of course, the doctors
recommend to prevent malaria by taking a prophylactic medication, such as
Malarone, and by protecting oneself against mosquitos. If you would prefer not
to spend your holidays vomiting and feverish, I would follow that advice – and if
you feel like vomiting, there’s always alcohol at hand ;-)
In other news, I hope
to be landing in Madagascar within 24 hours (hence the topic of Malaria), and
if opportunity arises, I’ll report the gory details of this journey on these
pages.
Comments