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If
you are a now a resident of the United States and are planning a return
visit to your country of origin, please read the following information
to help protect the health of you and your family.If
you are traveling outside of the United States, Canada, or Western Europe,
you might be traveling to a country with malaria risk. To find out if
malaria occurs in the place you plan to visit:
- Call
CDC's toll-free number (1-877-FYI-TRIP, 1-877-394-8747) and listen to
the information about diseases found in your home country, including
malaria.
- Visit
CDC's Travelers' Health web site, which has country-specific information including
where malaria is found, which antimalarial drugs to take, steps you
can use to protect your children, and ways to avoid mosquito bites.
Remember:
If you travel to a country with malaria risk, you and your family may
get malaria. You may have lost any protective immunity that you may have
had in the past. And your children born in the U.S. have no immunity at
all. Even if you have had malaria in the past and did not get seriously
ill, you could become very sick with malaria now. You
and your family should follow these basic steps to avoid malaria infection:
- Purchase
your antimalarial drug before traveling overseas. Drugs
purchased overseas may not be made according to United States standards
and may not be effective. They may also be dangerous, contain the wrong
drug or an incorrect amount of active drug, or be contaminated.
 More:
Counterfeit and Substandard Antimalarial Drugs
- Visit
your family's health care providers 4-6 weeks before traveling back
home. You may need to visit a traveler's health clinic, if your personal
health care provider is not familiar with travel medicine. City or county
public health departments may also have travel information, including
vaccinations and antimalarial drug prescriptions.
- Take
all of your drug as prescribed, before your trip, while you are traveling,
and after you return to the United States. If you fail to take the
entire prescription, you could still get malaria.
- Prevent
mosquito bites. Malaria is transmitted by the bite of an infected
mosquito; these mosquitoes usually bite between dusk and dawn.
- If possible, remain indoors in a screened or air-conditioned
area during the peak biting period.
- If no screening or air conditioning is available: use a pyrethroid-containing
spray in living and sleeping areas during
evening and night-time hours; sleep under bed nets, preferably
insecticide-treated ones.
- If out of doors, prevent mosquito bites by wearing long-sleeved
shirts, long pants, and hats.
- Use
insect repellent (bug spray).
Apply insect repellent to skin not covered by clothing. Use insect
repellents that contain DEET
(diethylmethyltoluamide) for the best protection
When
using repellent with DEET, follow these precautions:
- Read
and follow the directions and precautions on the product label.
- Use
only when outdoors and wash skin with soap and water after coming indoors.
- Do
not breathe in, swallow, or get into the eyes. (DEET is toxic if swallowed.)
If using a spray product, apply DEET to your face by spraying your hands
and rubbing the product carefully over the face, avoiding eyes and mouth.
- Do
not put repellent on wounds or broken skin.
- Higher
concentrations of DEET may have a longer repellent effect; however,
concentrations over 50% provide no added protection.
- Timed-release
DEET products may have a longer repellent effect than liquid products.
- DEET
may be used on adults, children, and infants older than 2 months of
age. Protect infants by using a carrier draped with mosquito netting
with an elastic edge for a tight fit.
- Children
under 10 years old should not apply insect repellent themselves. Do
not apply to young children's hands or around their eyes and mouth.
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Please
note: By following these recommendations, you can greatly reduce
the chances that you and your family will get malaria. But even
with all your precautions, you and your children may still get malaria.
Malaria symptoms are usually similar to the flu and can include
fever, chills, headache, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting,
and diarrhea.
These
symptoms may be mild, especially if you have had previous attacks
of malaria. However, you should not ignore any symptoms, even if
mild. Malaria may quickly become a serious and difficult-to-treat
illness, requiring hospitalization, and can be fatal.
If
you or your family become ill, either while you are traveling or
after you return to the U.S. (for up to 1 year), you should seek
immediate medical attention. In the United States, call your health
care provider or go to your nearest hospital's emergency department.
Tell the health care provider that you have been in a malaria-risk
area.
If
not promptly treated, malaria may cause coma, kidney failure, and
death.
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Page last modified : October 19,
2004
Content source: Division of Parasitic Diseases
National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (ZVED)
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