After the news that Cheryl Cole was diagnosed with malaria this week, British tourists are being warned to take proper medical precautions before travelling to exotic destinations, Cole had recently travelled to Tanzania for a brief holiday and although she is reported to have taken a full course of malaria tablets during her stay, she contracted the disease due to the fact some forms are resistant to drugs.
Although Cheryl Cole took her medication and was unlucky to get the disease, many people who travel to these destinations do not, as Britain has become the largest ‘importer’ of malaria in the western world, as some 2000 Britons contract the disease while abroad every year.
Frances Tuke of ABTA, The Travel Association states: “As we become more familiar with travelling to more exotic destinations, we can forget there are different types of risks that we need to be aware of and there are some easy things we things you can do to prevent those risks. First and foremost, if you are travelling outside of countries in Western Europe, North America or Australia, you need to go and see a health professional six to eight weeks before you go away to find out what vaccinations and preventions you need to take.”
For those who travel to the sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Tanzania are found to be at greatest risk, this area is also home to the most lethal strain of malaria, plasmodium falciparum and half of reported cases of malaria in the UK originate from this area.
Leicestershire-based consultant in health protection in, and member of the Malaria Awareness Panel, Dr Philip Monk, identifies Gambia as a particular hotspot for malaria and he has come across more cases of travellers infected in the west African country than anywhere else. He said: ‘As it’s a mainstream package holiday destination, people think it’s like going to the Balearics,’ he says. ‘It’s not. There are precautions you must take, especially in the rainy season when the risk of catching malaria is much higher.”
Figures show that Malaria causes more than one million deaths worldwide each year, and although scientists are making progress on a vaccine, it will be at least ten years before it will be widely available.
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