Americans are often ill prepared for the various exotic diseases they may unfortunately encounter when traveling abroad. One such disease is malaria. Malaria is most common in Asia and Africa. It is so common there, that many of the people who reside there have had it multiple times. Malaria is not so common in the U.S., which is a good thing, of course. However, the flip side of this is that travelers who contact malaria when traveling abroad may not have any symptoms until they return home to the U.S. Doctors in the U.S. may not immediately diagnose malaria, since they are less familiar with it. Therefore, it is important for travelers who go abroad where malaria is more common to educate themselves about the symptoms of malaria so they can get treatment when needed, sooner rather than later. Read on for the main warning signs and symptoms of malaria.
Take Necessary Precautions to Prevent Malaria When Traveling Abroad
Before I get into the symptoms of malaria, I think it’s important to cover how to avoid getting malaria in the first place.
The main way to prevent malaria is to take anti-malarial medication while traveling in areas where malaria is common. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides a list of drugs which can be used to prevent malaria, along with considerations such as the side effects of the drugs. It’s important to note that the drugs do not themselves prevent a person from getting malaria, but rather they fight off the disease as soon as it is contracted. Most likely, people who take anti-malarial medication will not even know if they’ve contracted malaria, due to the action the medication takes against the disease.
Since malaria is spread by mosquitoes, in addition to taking anti-malarial medication, those who travel abroad can protect themselves from contracting malaria by avoiding mosquito bites. That can be done by wearing long pants or skirts and long-sleeved shirts or blouses. Mosquito repellant can also be used, and it’s also a good idea to use a mosquito net when sleeping.
If you’ve done all of the above to prevent malaria, chances are slim that you’ll get it, however, if you get any of the symptoms of malaria, it’s important to get medical attention as quickly as possible.
The symptoms of malaria are often manifested between seven and 12 days after infection occurs.
The difficulty with the symptoms of malaria is that so many illnesses cause these same symptoms. That is that much more reason why it’s important to let a doctor know if you’ve been traveling abroad if you have such symptoms after returning home from your trip.
