Malaria in South Africa

Facts about Malaria in Africa 

• Mosquitoes build up a resistance to various forms of anti-malarial drugs - so please seek latest advice from your travel clinic.

• Malaria is probably Africa's No. 1 most widely spread disease and in most regions of Africa you should take protective measures. Although it is not possible to protect yourself totally you can reduce the risk of getting a serious, sometimes life threatening, bout of the disease.

• It is advisable you take some form of prophylactic drugs (get the latest advise from your doctor/ pharmacist or a Tropical Diseases Hospital)

• Cover yourself up between dusk and dawn, use a mosquito repellent and mosquito net and stay away from still water and dark damp places.

• Malaria can take from 7 days to several months to incubate and the symptoms range from headaches, pain and flu-likes aches to sometimes experiencing disorientation and high temperatures.

• You should seek medical advise immediately if you develop any of these symptoms. If you are not able to reach medical help immediately, doctors recommend you self treat with Quinine without delay and see a doctor as soon as possible. Malaria will hit you more seriously if you are recovering from another illness or are weak and malnourished.

• If you develop any symptoms that could be Malaria, after you return home, always remember to mention to your physician that you have travelled in a Malaria Zone. The parasite can stay in your system for a number of years.

• As a final note and speaking from personal experience, it must be said that there is a lot of paranoia in Western societies regarding Malaria and many people will be put off visiting a country altogether if it poses a risk.

• On the whole (excluding Cerebral Malaria ), if treatment is sought and preventative medicines are taken, Malaria does not usually kill - in fact in many countries the local inhabitants regard it much like we in western societies regard the flue.

• Visit these websites for information of malaria drugs available
  CDC website
  Medicines for Malaria Venture

• Mosquito Nets and Repellants for Sale - browse through our full selection

The War on Malaria in South Africa

Your chances of getting malaria as a tourist in South Africa depends on many things, including the amount of malaria in the population of the surrounding area, the measures you take to protect yourself, the time of the year and the recent rainfall.

How do things look in KwaZulu-Natal now? In general good and looking towards the future there is hope for even more improvement. 

Self Help and Malaria Prophylaxis

Public health measures reduce the risk of malaria but don't guarantee that you the visitor will be safe from infection with malaria. Unfortunately there is not much new in the way of chemo prophylaxis. The current recommendations are Larium (Mefloquine) or the combination of Daramal (Chloroquine) and Paludrine (proguanil) or doxycycline. 

Don't loose sight of other personal protection measures. You should never visit a malaria without taking along an effective repellent. This excludes citronella and any of the other naturals which only repel mosquitoes for a short time. Numerous studies have shown that the most effective repellent is Diethyl toluamide usually abbreviated to DEET. Mosquito coils are very effective in rooms or huts as are electrically heated pads containing insecticide. Sleeping under a mosquito net will prevent mosquito bites at night and long armed shirts and trousers is effective in evenings and mornings while not in bed. 

Public Health issues in combating Malaria

In essence this is about the health of the people live in the area. Cost considerations mean that these people cannot afford prophylaxis. Few can even afford nets for their beds. As such they are reliant on the Malaria Control Programme to reduce the probability of getting malaria and the services of the local clinics and hospitals to cure them if they get infected.

Effective treatment of the disease is paramount. Any resistance in the parasite means the patient goes home uncured. He then has a resistant strain of malaria which will intern infect mosquitoes with the resistant malaria strains. 

But drug resistance is not the only part of the malaria combat equation. Mosquito numbers must be limited. Since the reintroduction of DDT the mosquito populations are effectively being held in check.

The future of Malaria Control in South Africa

It is no coincidence that the malaria risk is highest on our borders with our neighbor Mozambique. During the countries recent tragic history  one of the victims was effective malaria control. Recently Malaria control has become reintroduced and the nock-on effect has already been noticed in Mpumalanga, Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal.

It will still be a number of years before an effective vaccine is developed so don't hold you breath waiting for that.