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Momodou
Denmark
11786 Posts |
 Posted - 25 Nov 2008 : 08:56:25
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quote:
Originally posted by gambiabev
So Momodou will you take your medication in future>!  
Gambiabev, you can bet on that. I don't dare take the risk specially during the malaria season. It has been reported that many Danes take the risk of not taking the tablets because they buy charter tickes at the last moment. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11786 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2008 : 10:39:11
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Malaria claims traveller's life
Published 25.11.08
The Copenhagen Post
People buying package holidays to tropical areas are being reminded to take malaria medication after woman dies
The price of a holiday in Gambia may be the same as a trip to Mallorca, but the destinations are two different worlds,...
The reminder comes after a 49-year-old from Århus died and her 50-year-old travelling companion wound up in the hospital after being infected with what doctors suspect is malaria on a trip to the west African country.
The malaria parasite is transferred by mosquito bites and is one of the most common killers worldwide. It is primarily a problem in tropical regions, but as travellers seek out the next new exotic destination they risk running into it, doctors at Skejby Hospital in Århus say.
National lab Statens Serum Institut recommends people travelling to Gambia take malaria pills and receive vaccinations for illnesses such as yellow fever and hepatitis. But many booking a holiday there are probably unaware of the danger, said Dr Carsten Schade Larsen, of Skejby Hospital in Århus.
'If you go there, you need a thorough series of vaccinations,' he said.
Travel agency Spies offers a two-week package holiday to Gambia for just under 7,500 kroner. But the cost of the vaccinations and medication would add about 1,500 kroner to the cost of the trip, according to Larsen.
He warned travellers against trying to skip the expense. 'Western Africa is one of the highest risk areas when it comes to malaria.'
In all, seven people who have recently travelled to Gambia are being treated for malaria. Neither of the two Århus women had purchased malaria pills, and tour operators in the country say few do.
'I'm amazed that they dare not to,' Basiru Sambou, a Gambian guide told Jyllands-Posten newspaper. 'Malaria is our country's biggest problem. People that have enough money to come here should have enough money to buy medicine.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Formby
United Kingdom
246 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2008 : 19:27:26
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Can I ask what is probably a very stupid question? Is it necessary to take them during the dry season? I have been under the (probably wrong) impression that there isn't much risk in, say, December, Jan, Feb and that it's only important during the rainy months.
I have a feeling I know the answer....but tell me. |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2008 : 21:18:19
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Formby, why take the risk? As it said in the above article 'if you can pay the trip, you should be able to afford malaria tablets'.
The day before yesterday the death of one of the regular contributors to the Dutch Gambiapage was announced. She died within a week of coming back from her holiday!
Please, protect yourself (and even the tablets do not guarantee a 100% protection). |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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Momodou
Denmark
11786 Posts |
Posted - 26 Nov 2008 : 21:20:33
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Formby, there are less mosquitoes during the hamatan (end of November to beginning of March) when temperatures are usually very low during the night. Nonetheless, we have to listen to the experts and should not take any risk.
The deceased Danish lady mentioned in the above article was in The Gambia in early November. This is just after the rainy season with a lot of mosquitoes. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Formby
United Kingdom
246 Posts |
Posted - 27 Nov 2008 : 21:50:22
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quote:
Originally posted by anna
Formby, why take the risk? As it said in the above article 'if you can pay the trip, you should be able to afford malaria tablets'.
The day before yesterday the death of one of the regular contributors to the Dutch Gambiapage was announced. She died within a week of coming back from her holiday!
Please, protect yourself (and even the tablets do not guarantee a 100% protection).
Anna/Momodu. Thanks, I hear you! |
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kiwi
Sweden
662 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2008 : 16:24:44
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It might not always be due to ignorance or for not caring one doesn´t take the malaria profylaxis.
I have always been very careful of taking my pills and wouldn´t dream of anything else but during my last visit I really suffered of side effects, constant head aces and nausea, I couldn´t sleep and I couldn´t eat. Some days I was so hungry that I shook but still was not able to eat. A tiny portions of soup and salads with shrimps and olives (the salt!) rescued me. Four days left I just dropped my pills as I couldn´t bear it any more and started to feel a bit better.
Last week a Gambian friend of mine called telling that he has been suffering of malaria for more than two weeks. After seven injections he was recovering.
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kiwi |
Edited by - kiwi on 29 Nov 2008 09:15:20 |
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anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2008 : 18:22:53
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| Kiwi, in this respect it is very important to think if perhaps you have been taking other medicines at the same time with the Malarone. What you describe happened to me once, and it turned out that in the first few days of taking anti malaria tablets i was finishing an antibiotics cure. The two didn't go together, if fact if you take Malarone the only other thing you can take at the same time is paracetamol. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 28 Nov 2008 : 19:40:43
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PREVENTION is important....sprays, long sleeved clothes at night covering the skin, nets etc etc...
Then medication
Then vigilance when you return home for symptoms.
My understanding was the risk at the coast is minimal, but if you go inland it increases...
Is this due to the amount of Mossis or the TYPE?
In Tendaba there are MILLIONS as the famous T shirt says!
The other risk from the bites is that if you scratch them and they gt infected you can get septecemia. I once returned with badly bitten legs and they were swollen nasty bites. At home got antibiotic cream as soon as I landed! Got told to call emergency doctor if they spread.....
We all need a wake up call...Gambia is beautiful and relaxed and great place to holiday..but there are health problems we shouldnt forget.
Once when I was in Kwinella I was warned there was chollera in the country and to be careful about hand hygiene (as I greet so many strangers)
Is Chollera still a problem and what can I as a visit to villages do to prevent getting it. |
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kiwi
Sweden
662 Posts |
Posted - 29 Nov 2008 : 09:14:42
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| I did take other medication as I also reported to my doctor, but they probably don´t mix well with malaria pills. Something to think about before my next visit. Thanks for the tip, Anna. |
kiwi |
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kiwi
Sweden
662 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2008 : 13:39:11
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| I am in shock. My Gambian ex-husband just came home two days ago from a year long stay in the Gambia. Today he is admitted to hospital with diagnosis of malaria. Pray for him. |
kiwi |
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gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2008 : 14:21:23
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| Kiwi, I am so sorry to hear this and wish him well. |
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Momodou
Denmark
11786 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2008 : 16:11:15
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Kiwi, its a good sign that they discovered that he has malaria at this early stage.
I pray for a speedy recovery for him. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kiwi
Sweden
662 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2008 : 16:44:50
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| Thanks for the sympathy, Gambiabev and Momodou. |
kiwi |
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mbay
Germany
1007 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 10:44:44
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http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16222-malaria-vaccine-halves-infections-in-trials.html
It is indeed a good news if you think that a Person dies at malaria each every thirty seconds in the world. An expensive illness for the poor countries where it prevails, a candidate - vaccine is in the final phase of the clinical tests which is much encouraging, a possibility for the distribution of this evil of the Africa endemic one. " A beginning of hope for a vaccine against malaria”: This is " the conclusion that the two researchers E. Williams and John W. Collins barn-wave compiled, around their editorial in the medical technical periodical; The New England Journal OF Medicine" published, those on 11 December 2008 two studies of the results of the clinical studies in phase 2b a vaccine against malaria in the net in this article. A curse for Africa malaria is one of the genuine risks, that the world faces since in the fifty’s. One determined, between 250 and 500 million and with the illness and that is the cause of death each year 1.5 to 3 million humans, particularly in the sub-Saharan Africa (for 80% of the cases) A death every thirty seconds. The cause is been already registered since the end of the last century with two new Nobel Prize for medicine, Alphonse Laveran and Ronald Ross. But curing it is still holding on to our throat. Most we can do is spreading out of the obviation.
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