4 November 2011 / leggypeggy

On malaria—a reality in much of the world

Water—the breeding ground for mosquitos.

In the western world, malaria is something we hear about but rarely encounter—in much of the developing world, it’s a deadly reality.

In the mid-1970s, when I first travelled in Africa, I was told that 1 in 10 travellers would get malaria regardless of what prophylactic they took. It seemed an odd statistic but, in my experience, it’s been pretty much accurate ever since.

Nine of us travelled north to south through The Sudan in 1977 and one (not me) got malaria. I can’t even remember what prophylactic I took, or if I took any, but I’ve always been obsessive about using bug repellent. Maybe that helped.

In the 1980s, we lived in Burma. None of the family took prophylactics, but we used plenty of powerful bug repellent and were vigilant about spraying any standing water near the house. The kids always slept under mosquito nets. None of us got malaria, but a friend did and he took at least three weeks to recover enough to fly home to Australia. Another friend’s son spent many weeks in the jungle. He got cerebral malaria and died within hours of becoming sick.

A couple of years ago, we did a Trans-Africa trip (10+ months and 43,000 kilometres). Twenty-eight of us started the trip and, with various comings and goings, a total of 38 people did some of the trip. Four got malaria. Two weren’t taking any prophylactic (a fellow who was only doing the first 13 weeks and the driver, who lived in Africa and got malaria often). Of the other two, one was taking doxycycline (also known as doxy and the most common option) and the other was taking malarone (the most expensive option).

We took doxy and, in addition to protecting us from malaria, we think its antibiotic properties may have helped to keep us well during the trip. But you can’t take malaria prophylactics forever.

For this trip, the Travel Doctor in Australia said that unless we spent most of our time in remote areas in southeast Asia, we were most likely okay without taking doxy. We’ve used a lot of bug repellent and, on the few nights we were in remote areas, we also covered up with long pants and long-sleeved shirts. Some of the places we’ve stayed have provided mosquito nets and that’s a big bonus.

So far so good. I hope I can still say that in a few weeks time because, in reality, mosquitos ignore lots of repellents and can bite through clothes. If you travel in malaria country, use common sense and seek a doctor’s advice on what you should do.