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Failure to heed preventative measures
"Experienced Traveller friend" advises you that it is safe to
eat what you like in a high class restaurants or hotels
Your assured by staff that the food and water are safe.
The seafood, green salads and prepared fruits look so appetising and no one else seems to be taking precautions.
You swim in lake Malawi (Africa) because it is so beautiful and clean and the sign says
that it is safe to swim there. (It definitely is not - see schistosomiasis)
Medication Side-effects
Approximately 1 in 5 persons taking antimalarial tablets will experience some
annoying side-effects and approx 1 in 20 will need to stop their medication. However
certain strategies can reduce side effects. (eg see side-effects mefloquine & myths of mefloquine).
No Medication
Given the significant side effects of some medications it is important to
remember antimalarial medication should not be given if there is a low risk of
malaria.
High risk malarial areas
The risk of dying from Malaria in short term travellers (2 - 6 weeks) is
around 1 in 4000 if no preventative medication taken. A recent German
study of travellers spending 2 -6 weeks in Kenya showed that on average 20% had
evidence of malarial antibodies (ie. were bitten by malarial carrying
mosquitoes)
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