Malaria symptoms may be confused with those of dengue or viral fever. We list them and tell you how to prevent malaria from striking you and your family.
Malaria has become a major scourge in recent years. Despite civic administrations taking steps like fogging and draining out stagnant pools of water, the illness still continues to strike year upon year.
Malaria symptoms to watch out for
Malaria shows a few symptoms that are slightly different from those of dengue or chikungunya. Consider the following malaria symptoms:
- High fever that progresses rapidly from dusk to midnight
- A headache and generalized body pain
- Chills when fever rises
- Lack of appetite
- Nausea at the sight and taste of food
- Difficulty swallowing water or food
If you have these malaria symptoms or notice them in your family member, you must insist on a blood test to check if malaria has struck. This will help the doctor offer timely treatment for the illness before it progresses.
How to prevent malaria from occurring
There are no cures or vaccines that can cure malaria. At best, you can only prevent it from happening. And this means that you must prevent mosquitoes from biting you or your loved ones. A single bite from an infected female Aedes Anopheles mosquito is enough to transfer the viral infection to your bloodstream. It incubates in the body for about three to four days, and then develops into full-blown malaria. Check for the symptoms listed above to get the right treatment.
This is how you can prevent mosquitoes from biting you or your loved ones:
- Keep the house clean and watch out for dampness in the environment. A warm, humid environment encourages mosquitoes to enter the house.
- Malaria-carrying mosquitoes breed in stagnant water. It could be muddy or fresh water, but if it is sufficiently stagnant, it becomes a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Make sure there are no pools of water standing in the house, whether under plants or in buckets storing water for drinking or household use. If you notice any such water standing in or around the house, drain it at once.
- Spray the house with Mortein mosquito spray. This removes lurking mosquitoes and sanitises the area, thus preventing mosquitoes from entering the house again.
- You can use a mosquito-killing card from Mortein – it burns and gives out smoke that repels mosquitoes. Light the card and place it near your children’s bed or study area.
- A few minutes before you sleep, use an electric plug-in mosquito vaporiser that repels outside mosquitoes and kills the ones inside the room.
- When you are outdoors, you should slather mosquito-repellent cream on your skin to keep mosquitoes away. Wear loose clothing where the clothing do not have contact with the skin – mosquitoes can bite through cloth fibres!