Malaria Treatment

Malaria is a very serious and sometimes even fatal disease which is widespread in many subtropical and tropical countries. It is caught by being bitten by a mosquito with infected blood that is carrying the malaria parasites in its saliva.

These parasites enter the bloodstream of a host  when bitten by an infected mosquito and then at first migrate to the liver where they will multiply before returning right back into the bloodstream to invade the red blood cells. After that the parasites continue to multiply inside the red cells until they burst releasing huge numbers of free parasites into the blood plasma causing the well known fever associated with the disease. This phase of the disease occurs in cycles of approximately 48 hours.

The free parasites then will try to infect any mosquito that feeds on the host’s blood during this phase. The cycle will continue as the parasites multiply inside the mosquito and then eventually invade its salivary glands.

Malarial attacks present over 4 to 6 hours with shaking chills, high fever, and sweating, and are associated with headache, fatigue, dizziness, vomiting, abdominal cramps, nausea, dry cough, muscle or joint pain, and back ache. The attacks may occur every other day or every third day.

Cerebral malaria and death can occur, sometimes within 24 hours, if the infection is caused by plasmodium falciparum.

Fever or any other symptoms can develop in malaria as early as 8 days or as late as 60 days after exposure or stopping prophylaxis. For plasmodium vivax in temperate areas, the delay may be even up to one year.

Malaria occurs in over 100 countries so not less than 40% of the people in the world are at risk. Large areas of South and Latin America, Hispaniola (Haiti and Dominicana), Indian subcontinent, Africa, the Middle East, the  Southeast Asia, and Oceania are considered malaria-risk areas.

Prescription drugs are used for malaria treatment. The effectiveness of antimalarial drugs differs with different species of the parasite and with different stages of the parasite’s life cycle.  The type of drugs and length of treatment depend on  where the patient was infected, the age of the patient, and how severely ill the patient was at start of treatment.

If you are about to buy Antibiotics, we recommend you to order it in Canadian pharmacy. You’ll get qualitative medication and you will save money…

Be aware of the fact that adventure travellers are usually more exposed to malaria than ordinary travellers due to the nature of their activities and the fact that they travel to the more remote locations.

There are several drugs, that are used for malaria treatment. They include doxycycline, chloroquine, mefloquine, primaquine, quinine, pyrimethamine-sulfadoxine (Fansidar). Some plasmodium have developed resistance to certain medications, and therefore, alternative medications may be prescribed for you.

Unfortunatly, no prophylactic regimen is 100% effective. There are, however, multiple drug-treatment protocols for treatment of drug resistant Plasmodium strains (for example, quinine sulfate plus doxycycline [Vibramycin, Oracea, Adoxa, Atridox] or tetracycline [Achromycin], or clindamycin [Cleocin], or atovaquone-proguanil [Malarone]).

If you are traveling to an area that is known to have malaria, find out which medications you need to take, and take them as prescribed. Current CDC recommendations suggest individuals to begin taking antimalarial drugs about one to two weeks before traveling to a malaria infested area and for four weeks after leaving the area. Your doctor, travel clinic, or the health department can advise you as to what medicines to take to keep from getting malaria. The main problem is thatc urrently, there is no vaccine available for malaria, but researchers are trying to develop one.

Side Effects of Malaria treatment.

As all medicines, anti-malarials can sometimes cause one or more side-effects:
Doxycycline does carry some risk of photosensitisation i.e. can make you prone to sunburn. Chloroquine (Nivaquine or Avloclor) can cause nausea, temporary blurred vision and rashes. Proguanil (Paludrine) can cause nausea and simple mouth ulcers.

Patients with a history of depression or other psychiatric disturbances should not take mefloquine as it may precipitate these conditions. The advise is that mefloquine mustbe started two and a half weeks before travel.

Malarone is a relatively new treatment and is virtually free of side effects. It is licensed for use in stays of up to 28 days but there is now experience of it being taken safely for up to three months.
No other tablets are required with mefloquine or doxycycline or Malarone.

There are some different Regimens for malaria treatment.

1) No prophylactic tablets required but anti mosquito measures should be strictly observed: Avoid mosquito bites-  cover up with clothing such as long trousers andlong sleeves and especially after sunset. You must start using insect repellents on exposed skin and, when necessary, sleeping under a mosquito net.

2)Chloroquine 300mg weekly (2×150mg tablets) OR Proguanil 200mg daily (2×100mg tablets).

3)Chloroquine 300mg weekly (2×150mg tablets). PLUS Proguanil 200mg daily (2×100mg tablets).
4)Mefloquine one 250mg tablet weekly. OR Doxycycline one 100mg capsule daily. OR Malarone one tablet daily.

If you are about to buy Antibiotics, we recommend you to order it in Canadian pharmacy. You’ll get qualitative medication and you will save money…