Received From: Juan Dario Zea

Message: I lived for 2 years on the Pacific Colombia coast with malaria everywhere. There are several types of malaria but these are the most common:

VIVAX: you have fevers up and down… but nothing grave.

FALSIPARUM: this is the worst: if you don’t take the treatment you’ll be dead in 2 weeks.

But why?

When you are bitten by the mosquito it takes up to 1 or 2 weeks to develop a fever, with drowsiness, and sometimes nausea. At this moment you must do the test at the laboratory or hospital to identify which mosquito bit you. If you take ANY medicine to prevent or to calm the fever the result will be negative, and then the doctor will start to look for other sicknesses while you are dying!

So the best recommendation is:

At dusk and at sunset you should use thick clothes, long sleeves, pants, and shirts! and try to stay in a protected area for this time! For example a mosquito net or bedroom with good mosquito screen!

If the result is positive, just take the medicine and don’t worry! but if you go back to your country and 1 week later you feel the symptoms, don’t forget to tell your doctor where you were!

I hope this helps people going into malaria areas.