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Maleria

rhodesian mosquito

Malaria is a disease caused by parasites in the blood which are conveyed from one person to another by means of a bite from an infected Anopheles mosquito. The usual house mosquitoes of our towns and cities do not belong to the Anopheles group and do not carry malaria.
The Anopheles mosquitoes are most active during the months - January to April and are mainly located in the hot, low-lying areas less than 2,000 feet above sea-level and particularly in the valleys of the Zambesi, Sabi and Limpopo rivers. Binga, Kariba, Mana Pools and Chiredzi are all in malarious areas. The disease also occurs in parts of all our neighbouring countries.

HOW MALARIA IS SPREAD
If a female Anopheles mosquito bites someone with malaria, the blood she sucks may contain malarial parasites. Within her body, these parasites will develop for a period of ten days. After this period if she bites a healthy person, she will inject infective parasites into his blood. It takes from 9 to 14 days for the parasites to increase in the blood in sufficient numbers to produce the symptoms of malaria.

SYMPTOMS OF MALARIA
An attack of malaria fever consists of three stages, a stage of coldness, a stage of heat and a stage of sweating. Following an attack there may be a period free from fever which lasts from twenty-four to seventy-two hours according to the type of malaria, and during which the patient may feel quite well. After this time the temperature begins to rise again and the symptoms of the previous attack are repeated.
The severity of an attack depends on the number of parasites in the blood, the general health of the individual and the powers of resistance that the person has developed against the disease.
Any person who has been in a malarious area and later develops an illness with chills and fever, should seek medical advice and tell the doctor where he has travelled.

PREVENTIVE MEASURES
Malaria can be prevented by killing parasites in the blood before they can produce illness, by avoiding bites of infected mosquitoes and by the destruction of all Anopheles mosquitoes.
The following precautions should be taken in all areas where malaria is prevalant.
Sleep under a mosquito net kept in perfect repair and properly adjusted, or see that the bedrooms are protected by mosquito gauze.
Puddles of standing water should be eliminated by filling with dirt, by draining, or by treating the surface at weekly intervals by kerosene oil.
Mosquitoes need water for breeding. If there is no standing water, or if it is covered with oil, they cannot breed.
Spray the walls of huts and houses with a residual insecticide such as BHC. This is best applied as wettable powder or an emulsion. Wettable powders are cheaper, but are inclined to leave white marks. Half a pound of 10 per cent. wettable powder, or a quart of emulsion is sufficient to treat an average sized room and is effective for a period of three or four months.
The regular use of a suppressive drug such as chloroquine, amodiaquine or pyrimethamine (Proprietary names 1ike, camoquin, nivaquine and daraprim are merely variations by the different manufacturers of these drugs.)
In all cases where there is any doubt as to which suppressive drug is preferable, medical advice should always be sought. The drug should be taken for at least two weeks, after leaving an area where malaria is present.
The practice of the above preventive measures would not only protect you against malaria but would help to eradicate this disease from Rhodesia and the Continent of Africa.

map of maleria in zimbabwe


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Acknowledgements:-Issued by the Ministry of Health, Rhodesia.