Malaria

Some people bring back keychains, coasters, and postcards as their vacation souvenirs.  I decided to do things on a bigger scale and brought back malaria with me.  When I started shivering at work yesterday evening and developed a horrible headache, I got a bit suspicious that something wasn't quite right.  One is not supposed to shiver in Tanzania and I'm not prone to headaches.  Sure enough, I then got muscle and bone aches and my fever continued all night.  This morning I went to a clinic in town and had them check my blood, which confirmed that I do indeed have malaria.  It takes 7-14 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito before developing symptoms, so I most definitely got it while on vacation, since I was away that entire time period.

I find that there are a few misconceptions about malaria.  The last time I had malaria, I think some friends in the States thought I was near death, because we always hear statistics about how many Africans die of malaria every year.  Yes, malaria CAN be deadly, but that's only if you don't get treated.  So while I don't want to discount that many people, especially children, die of malaria every year around here, only a small percentage of the people who get it die from it.

Also, it's not every mosquito that carries malaria.  One the females of one species of mosquito are even able to carry it, and they have to bite an infected person first.  Despite using bug spray every evening on our trip, I still got a lot of bites, so I can't say I'm too shocked to have gotten sick.  Mosquitoes just really like me!  It seems like I get a lot more bites than other people do.  I'm just so sweet, they can't resist me...

Malaria is actually very easy to diagnose and treat.  It's nice in a way that the medicine is just a three-day series of pills and that one starts feeling better pretty soon after taking them.  Some diseases take you out for a long time and the recovery is slow, but with malaria you can go from feeling absolutely horrible - fever, aches all over your body, exhausted, and a killer headache - to feeling quite normal in just a couple days if you get the correct pills.  There are lots of different malaria medications, but some are more effective than others.  I went for the top of the line best drugs when I bought them this morning and they cost me just under $2.00.  The test cost about the same amount, so at least while malaria hurts my body a lot, it's not hurting my wallet too much!

So I feel pretty crummy right now, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be doing a lot better by tomorrow and I think I'll be able to go to work on Monday.  Malaria is nasty, but short-lived.