Symptoms/Avoiding malaria

How can you tell if you have malaria

• Malaria’s symptoms are flu-like: Fever, cold shivers, headache, fatigue, sweating and muscle ache.
• The fever attacks can be heavy, depending on the kind of parasite you’ve been infected with.
• If you aren’t treated promptly, besides dizziness and disorientation, you may pass out, your organs may fail, and you may die.
• The incubation time for effective malaria is 1 – 2 weeks.
• A blood test is the best way to know if you have or haven’t been infected. The parasites will show up when your blood sample is examined under a microscope.

What to do if you think you have malaria

• If you are in a malaria-risk area (see map below) and experience any of the symptoms (Fever, cold shivers, headaches, fatigue, sweating and muscle ache), go immediately to your nearest hospital or clinic to report the symptoms.
• Kenya Hospitals and Health and clinics
• Hospitals in Kenya (Wikipedia)

How to avoid malaria

• Use an insecticide-treated mosquito net all night (and make sure it’s in good condition, i.e. no rips or holes other than the original ones)
• Wear loose long-sleeved tops and trousers during the hours of sunset and sunrise (The Anopheles mosquito feeds between dusk and dawn)
• Apply DEET to your skin (Do not apply to young children’s hands or around the eyes and mouth, and do not apply on wounds or broken skin)

Additional information for travellers to malaria-risk zones

• Minimise your risk of infection by following a chemoprophylaxis regime prior to, during, and following your visit to a malaria-risk area.
• Please see the Traveller’s health – Yellow Book for comprehensive prevention information for travellers
• See also Malaria – Treatment