Overview

Malaria is a serious parasite infection caused by mosquito bites in tropical countries.

There are different types of malaria. Falciparum malaria is the most serious type. You can die from it if it is not diagnosed and treated quickly.

If you grew up in an area where malaria is common, you might have built up some immunity to malaria. But you can lose this immunity after living in the UK for a while.

Around 2,000 people in the UK get malaria every year. 8 in 10 of these people have falciparum malaria. Most people get the infection when visiting friends and family in other countries.

Symptoms of falciparum malaria

All types of malaria can cause symptoms such as:

• a high temperature (fever) or chills
• headache
• muscle or joint pains
• a cough
• diarrhoea
• feeling or being sick (vomiting)

Falciparum malaria can cause very serious symptoms, such as:

• confusion
• feeling very tired and sleepy
• breathing difficulties
• peeing less than usual

Diagnosing falciparum malaria

Your nurse or doctor will do a blood test to check if you have falciparum malaria. You’ll usually get the results within 1 day.

Your doctor will tell you if you need to stay in hospital or not. If you do not need to stay in hospital, we’ll prescribe you medicines to take yourself.

Treatment for falciparum malaria

We usually prescribe a medicine called Riamet^® to treat falciparum malaria. This contains the ingredients artemether and lumefantrine.

How to take Riamet

Take Riamet together with a fatty meal or a glass of milk. This helps your body absorb the medicine.

Take 4 tablets. This is your 1^st dose.

Then, take another dose at the following times:

• 8 hours after your 1^st dose
• 24 hours after your 1^st dose
• 36 hours after your 1^st dose
• 48 hours after your 1^st dose
• 60 hours after your 1^st dose

Take 4 tablets each time.

It can take up to 2 days for your symptoms to improve after taking Riamet.

Side effects

Riamet is a safe and common treatment for falciparum malaria. Like all medicines, it can cause some side effects.

The side effects of Riamet include:

• an irregular heartbeat
• lowering your red blood cell levels (anaemia)

When to get help

Follow-up appointments

After you’ve finished treatment, you’ll either have a telephone appointment or a face-to-face appointment at the infectious diseases department.

We’ll make sure that you’ve fully recovered. We might also offer you some screening tests for other infectious diseases.

Preventing malaria

Although you cannot completely prevent yourself from getting malaria again, there are several ways you can reduce the risk.

If you’re travelling to a tropical region that is affected by malaria, ask a GP, pharmacist or travel clinic for advice before you travel.