Malaria Protection For Short-Term Travelers

An average of 800 malaria cases are recorded annually in Germany. One person in a hundred dies of the disease. Travel advice given by experienced physicians is essential to raise awareness of malaria risk in endemic areas. Rational mosquito protection on skin and textiles reduces the risk of malaria and other arthropod-transmitted diseases (e. g. dengue fever). Regular intake of an antimalarial drugs to suppress the development forms the basis of reliable chemo prophylaxis in highly endemic areas. The concept of standby emergency treatment (SET) in areas of low or moderate risk needs to be communicated in a detailed and clear way: take the temperature when feeling unwell; seeing a doctor immediately if a fever arises after 6 days of stay in an area, intake of SET if a doctor can not be reached within 24 hours; see a doctor after taking the SET as quickly as possible. These elements help to reduce the rate of severe malaria cases among travelers.