Medication ‘not 100% effective’

It is important to note no anti-malaria medication is 100% effective, and breakthrough infections could occur.

This is according to Angelique Coetzee, SA Medical Association member and primary healthcare consultant.

“If you are taking an anti-malaria medication and develop symptoms such as a fever, a chill, a headache, muscle aches or fatigue during or after your trip to an endemic area, you need to go and seek medical attention,” she said.

Coetzee said if a person was travelling to an area where malaria was endemic, it is strongly recommended to take malaria prevention measures. “What patients and people don’t understand is it’s not only medication, but it’s also using insect repellents, wearing long-sleeved clothes and trousers, and sleeping under insecticide treated nets,” she said.

“Also, it depends on factors such as the area you are visiting, the time of the year, and your own individual health circumstance.”

Jaishree Raman at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said early diagnosis and treatment was critical for a full recovery from falciparum malaria, which was the most common malaria in South Africa.

“If left untreated, uncomplicated malaria rapidly progressed to severe complicated malaria, often with negative outcome,” she said.

“Anyone that lives in or recently visited a malaria endemic place should be tested for malaria by microscopy or rapid diagnostic test and treated with artemethe and lumefantrine.”

Coetzee said anti-malaria medication can delay the onset of symptoms or even prevent them altogether. “What’s important is that the medications work by either killing the parasite or preventing them from multiplying.”