Malaria is a serious disease and it’s critical to be able to recognize its symptoms. As with any disease, malaria is best treated at the earliest stage, so if you know what to look out for in terms of the symptoms, you can get the medical help you need right away. Today, we’re going to share some information on how you can prevent contracting the disease as well as recognizing the symptoms.
It is vital that you not underestimate how serious malaria can be. The early symptoms of malaria are uncomfortable but if you don’t treat them correctly they can lead to symptoms that are more uncomfortable or even death. It’s hard to know just how many people are killed by malaria but most of the estimates that exist put that number at more than a million. Most of these deaths are kids from the poorer areas of Africa. But any person traveling through a region where malaria is will be at risk of coming down with the disease. In some ways, even a higher risk because when you come from a country like the United States where malaria is not common you won’t have built up any natural resistance to it. So make sure that you take all of the precautions you need to take and don’t ignore even one symptom of malaria.
Aside from any medication you take to protect yourself against malaria, you should do everything you can to avoid getting bitten by mosquitos. Insect repellent containing DEET is often effective.
To prevent getting bit by mosquitoes, during the day or night, you need to wear long pants and sleeves so that they cannot get to your skin. Hotels in countries where malaria is a threat usually have mosquito netting, and you should always use this. You might want to purchase (online or off-line) chemically treated clothing in stores designed to keep mosquitoes at bay. There is an insecticide in it called permethrin that will protect you. Be ready to spot symptoms of malaria at all times! Even with all of these precautions, you can still get the disease, and you need to recognize it as soon as you can if you contract it.
One of the problems that people who live in nations like the US have with their own doctors is that those doctors don’t usually have to treat malaria so they don’t have a lot of experience with the disease. Once in a while people will travel to someplace with malaria but not protect themselves against it and then won’t feel any symptoms for several months after they get home. Then they forget to tell the doctor about the trip they have taken and the doctor thinks that it is just the flu or a basic stomach virus. This is terrible because it is absolutely critical to treat your malaria symptoms as early on as possible. As long as you are educated about the risks of malaria before going to a country where this disease is present, you won’t have this kind of problem.
Malaria symptoms are often stressful but if you treat them properly and early, you will usually be just fine. The absolute worst thing you can do is ignore your symptoms or allow yourself to believe that they can be signs of something else. The simple fact of the matter is that if you have gone somewhere that malaria is present, it is possible that you will have contracted the disease and you need to accept that.