Stop malaria by taking precautions before travelling to endemic zones

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDApr 28 2011

More than half of UK malaria cases are seen in people visiting friends and relatives in West Africa and India. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there were 243 million cases of malaria in 2008 and almost a million deaths worldwide.

Holidaymakers are being urged to pack anti-malaria pills if they go abroad after figures showed cases of the disease have jumped by almost 30 per cent in two years. There were 1,761 reports of malaria in the UK in 2010, up on the 1,495 in 2009 and 1,370 in 2008. The data, from the Health Protection Agency (HPA), was released to mark World Malaria Day and includes Britons and visitors who fell ill in the UK.

Of 997 cases where information was available, 85 per cent involved people who had not taken anti-malaria pills while on holiday or when visiting friends and family in countries where the disease is prevalent. Four out of 10 cases in 2010 were among UK residents who had travelled to Nigeria or Ghana and 11 per cent of cases were people who had visited India.

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes and it only takes one bite to become infected. Symptoms can develop within eight days of a bite but the disease may stay inactive in the body for up to a year.

Professor Peter Chiodini, from the HPA's malaria reference laboratory, said people should seek travel advice and get appropriate medication to protect themselves against the disease. He added, “Even people living in Britain visiting the country in which they were born or grew up, or have previously visited, are not immune from malaria and should take precautions.”

Dr Jane Jones, head of the HPA's travel and migrant health section, said, “Malaria is a potentially deadly disease but is almost completely preventable. Anyone who is planning to travel to a tropical destination should always seek advice from their GP or travel health clinic before their trip. It is a myth that people who have had malaria will not get it again…Our advice is the same for all travellers - you must take anti-mosquito precautions and medication to keep safe.”