SADC Malaria Week, 7-13 November 2011

Protect yourself against the threat of malaria

GEMS member 42-year-old Enoch Khensani* works at the Department of Public Works in Johannesburg. His hometown is in Maputaland in northern KwaZulu-Natal, which he recently visited after a long break of two years. Two weeks after returning to Johannesburg Enoch fell ill with what he was sure was flu. His symptoms were flu-like and included fever, chills, headache, body aches, joint pains, coughing and diarrhoea.

Enoch's wife saw that he was not well and insisted on taking him to their doctor. It was a good thing she did as Enoch had caught something potentially far more serious than flu.

"Have you travelled recently?" his doctor asked him after hearing his symptoms. Enoch explained that he had gone home to visit his parents in Maputaland. "I think you may have malaria and am going to have you tested for it," added the doctor.

Semi-immunity
Much to Enoch's surprise, his blood test came back positive for malaria. Even although he had lived in northern KwaZulu-Natal, a malaria area, through his childhood and knew people who had caught the disease, he himself had never had a problem with it before. His doctor explained that people who live in areas where there is malaria often develop a semi-immunity to it. However, they lose this immunity after they live in a non-malaria area such as Johannesburg for a year or more. Enoch's doctor said this might have been what happened to him.

As part of the Government Employees Medical Scheme's (GEMS) on-going effort to educate our members and future members on a range of healthcare topics, we would like to share real life member stories with you and explore certain important healthcare issues. This article looks at the subject of malaria this South African Development Community (SADC) Malaria Week, 7 to 13 November 2011.

A dangerous disease
Malaria is a disease that is spread through the bite of a certain type of mosquito called the Anopheles mosquito. Some people think the disease is not very dangerous but they are ill informed as malaria can make one very sick and it even kills large numbers of people. Malaria kills more than a million people a year, most of them in Africa. Around one out of every four childhood deaths in Africa is caused by malaria. The disease can also drain people's productive energy. Rural families that have fallen victim to it can often only harvest around 40% of their crops.

SADC's Malaria Week aims to create awareness about malaria and mobilise the community to participate in malaria control programmes. The initiative believes that the community should be mobilised through education to:

• Recognise the signs and symptoms of the illness
• Provide more home based treatment
• Seek treatment when individuals become ill 
•  Take personal protection measures against the illness

Malaria areas
Malaria is quite common in the southern African region. In South Africa it is only found in northern KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo province, and in the eastern areas of Mpumalanga. Although it can be contracted at any time of the year, it is especially prevalent in the summer in these areas. Malaria is also found in other African countries and many countries bordering South Africa such as Swaziland, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. Because nobody is immune to malaria, GEMS would like to remind its members that whether travelling for business or leisure to these areas, you are always at risk.

Protecting yourself
Those who are travelling to malaria areas should check with their doctor as to whether they should be protecting themselves from the disease. There are a number of ways to protect oneself, including through the use of preventative medications or prophylaxis.

While these medications usually stop us from getting malaria and help to reduce the severity of the symptoms if we do get it, none of them offer complete protection. One of the best ways to ensure that we do not get malaria, therefore, is to make sure that mosquitoes do not bite you in the first place.

You can prevent yourself from getting bitten by:

• Wearing long sleeved clothing and long trousers from dusk until dawn when you are outside
• Putting on mosquito repellent lotions or sprays
• Using mosquito coils, electric air repellents and insecticidal sprays to kill or chase off the insects
• Sleeping under mosquito nets
•  Staying in places that have mosquito screening on doors and windows

Preventative medications
Prophylaxis should be your next line of defence against malaria. It is not true that prophylaxis is ineffective in preventing malaria or that it makes the diagnosis of the disease difficult. These are some of the many myths that have developed around the disease and its prevention.

Some types of medications are better suited to the needs of certain individuals than others. Some, for example, are not suitable to take for long periods of time while others are. It is therefore important for everyone to be individually evaluated by a doctor or travel clinic before travelling to a malaria area.

It is vitally important to continue taking your medication as your doctor instructs you to. Some medications require that you continue to take them for a couple of weeks after your visit to a malaria area. This should be done even if you think mosquitoes did not bite you during your stay. The malaria mosquito can be a very silent carrier of the disease and may well have bitten you without you even knowing. Stopping your medications before time may badly compromise the protection offered by the prophylaxis.

Flu-like symptoms
Once you have been in a malaria area you should then take care to watch out that you have not caught the illness. As we saw in Enoch's case, its early symptoms are often flu-like and it is commonly confused with flu by both patients and doctors alike. Malaria can develop as early as seven days after entering a malaria area and for up to six months after leaving.

When in doubt visit your doctor
Enoch made a complete recovery after being treated for malaria. His doctor told him his wife was wise to insist he get medical help because malaria can cause serious health complications and can even be dangerous if it is not treated. So if you do develop any signs of the disease after visiting a malaria area visit your doctor immediately. It could just save your life.

If you would like to know how GEMS can assist you to obtain more information about any of your healthcare needs, you can contact the GEMS call centre on 0860 00 4367 or send a SMS to 083 450 4367. GEMS will assist you in every way possible to ensure your family's health and well-being.

*The member's name has been changed in order to protect his identity.

References

1. ‘Malaria in Southern Africa', Malaria Information, www.malaria.org.za.
2. Malaria, World Health Organisation, www.who.int/topics.