Malaria & Anti-malarial treatment
As well as providing anti-malarial treatment, our travel nurse will provide you with extremely important information to help prevent all mosquito borne illnesses.
Malaria - what is it and what are the symptoms?
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by a parasite, present in most tropical and subtropical areas of the world with Africa reporting the highest rates. It is spread through the bite of an infected female mosquito.
Symptoms of malaria initially are fever, headache, tummy pains, muscle aches, cough and diarrhoea. These symptoms can often be mistaken for flu. If left untreated, severe disease can develop with kidney failure, low blood pressure, unconsciousness and uncontrollable bleeding leading to death. We advise all travellers with any signs of malaria either whilst travelling and up to a year following return home - to seek medical assessment.
Is it preventable?
It is preventable and curable if diagnosed and treated early. Travellers more at risk of severe disease are children under the age of 5 years; older people, pregnant women, those without a fully functioning spleen and those with complex underlying health conditions. We are able to provide advice for all at risk groups (including babies, pregnant women and breast-feeding mothers) whose travel to high-risk malaria areas is unavoidable.
As part of the Travel Risk assessment service we provide, Nurse Sarah will inform travellers of the risk of malaria in the countries to be visited and advise on insect bite prevention and appropriate oral anti-malarial medication for adults and children. Medication such as Malarone (Atovaquone & Proguanil) and Doxycycline work by killing the parasites. Anti-malarial medication will need to be commenced prior to travel; taken during travel and for a period of time once leaving the malaria area. This is so that the medication can act throughout the parasite’s life cycle. Additionally, some forms of Malaria can lie dormant in the blood stream for weeks and months.
Anti-malarial medications can cause some side effects such as nausea, headaches and mild tummy upset. These can be minimised by taking the medication with food (milky or fatty food is often recommended) and maintaining a good fluid intake.
Nurse Sarah will also provide information on the various insect repellents which have been studied to confirm their effectiveness and safety for adults, children and babies. A combination of insect bite prevention along with recommended anti-malarial medication provides significant protection against developing malaria.
How do I obtain the anti-malarial treatment & advice?
Please click here to fill in the "Travel Vaccination & Medication Patient Form".
You will need to complete a form for each member of your family or the group you are travelling with who requires anti-malarial medication at the same time as you. The form will ask for some important health & medical information and also details of your travel itinerary.
Once we receive the completed form(s), we will contact you to book in an appointment with Nurse Sarah as soon as possible.
If you only require anti-malarial medication, then you will be booked in for a telephone appointment and this is priced at £20 for one person or £10 per person for groups of two or more who have a group appointment. If you require vaccinations as well as anti-malarial medication, then you will be booked in for a face to face appointment and any prescriptions will be issued free of charge.
Please note, you will be sent an electronic prescription code by text and email. You can take your prescription code to any pharmacy and you will be charged by them for the medication. Sometimes, the pharmacy will need to order in the medication.
If you have any questions before filling out the patient form above, please call, email or complete the form below. If you contact us by email or form, we will get back to you within 24 hours. Please note, we are not open at weekends and bank holidays.
Based on the guidance in the UK Malaria Expert Advisory Group guidelines (UKMEAG 2024); suspected Malaria is a medical emergency and all suspected cases would be referred to hospital-based care urgently.