People who travel to the tropics should go to a travel medicine clinic about 6 weeks before departure, says Dr. Wacław Nahorski from the National Center for Tropical Medicine. In Poland, deaths due to tropical diseases are recorded every year, incl. malaria.
Dr. Wacław Nahorski from the National Center of Tropical Medicine told PAP that the increase in the frequency of Poles traveling to exotic regions of the world is associated with an increase in the number of tropical diseases. One of the most common is malaria. Malaria is a big problem for medical centers around the world. In Poland, too, because we have to import antimalarial drugs from abroad. Every year we register deaths from malaria, this year a soldier who was on missions in Africa died – said Nahorski and added that Poland has the highest percentage of deaths from malaria in the entire European Union.
According to Nahorski, the primary care physicians to whom malaria patients most often go do not recognize the disease very often. What’s more, even some infectious diseases wards have trouble with this, said the doctor, adding that people who feel bad after returning from malaria-related regions of the world should inform doctors about their departure. These, in turn, should begin diagnostics for malaria or other tropical diseases.
Malaria, contrary to appearances, is not easy to diagnose, because it gives various symptoms: they may resemble flu, gastric poisoning, they may also be limited to a drop in mood and a sense of general fatigue, in the most severe cases, coma or disturbance of consciousness may occur. Doctors distinguish between different types of malaria, including renal, pulmonary, hematological, matabolic and cerebral. Poorly treated disease or initiation of treatment too late leads to death.
Therefore, it is best to prepare well for entry, and use anti-malarial prophylaxis when in malaria areas on site. I believe that in this case it is better to take a drug + for free + than not to take it and get malaria – assessed in an interview with PAP Nahorski and added that everyone going to the tropics should go to a medical clinic approx. 6 weeks before the trip tropical, to agree with your doctor what medications to buy, how and when to take them.
Nahorski pointed out that vaccines for some tropical diseases must be taken much earlier than 6 weeks before departure. When we buy a trip to the tropics at a travel agency, we ask for information in this regard (i.e. what diseases are there, how they can be prevented – PAP). If we do not get it or look for this information on our own, and preferably check it in tropical medicine clinics – he emphasized. He added that there is a known case in Poland in which a travel agency did not inform a person traveling to the tropics about the need for preventive vaccinations. When the traveler died as a result of a tropical disease, his relatives won high damages in court. But it’s not about getting compensation, everyone wants to have a good vacation and be healthy – said the doctor.
According to Nahorski, people who do not leave high-class hotels in the tropics during the holidays can choose less prophylaxis. Those who visit monuments, visit marketplaces or organize field trips should absolutely follow the doctor’s instructions obtained before leaving.
The information that Nahorski presented at the scientific conference in Ostróda shows that malaria, which Poles most often bring from tropical holidays, is a disease known to mankind for centuries. The first cases of it were already described by Hippocrates, they suffered from it, among others ancient Greeks and Romans. However, it was not until 1820 that the Jesuits discovered and isolated quinine, which treats malaria. Research on the malaria genome was not completed until 2002.
Malaria is a disease that is transmitted by 27 different species of Anopheles mosquitoes. They transmit malaria parasites at temperatures exceeding 20 degrees C. Malaria incubation period varies from 5 days to 4 weeks.