In view of the serious health risk that malaria may pose to the international traveller, the Committee to Advise on Tropical Medicine and Travel develops Canadian guidelines for prevention and treatment of malaria . The following has been adapted from the 1995 guidelines to provide general advice about malaria to the international traveller. Advice related to specific travel destinations and individual circumstances should be obtained from a travel medicine clinic or physician prior to travel. The disease is usually transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected mosquito, the female Anopheles mosquito. The parasite can also be transmitted by transfusion with infected blood, or by shared needle use, or from a mother to her unborn baby, but transmission by these routes occur rarely.
Acute infection can cause enlargement of the spleen and make the liver tender.
If specific medical treatment is not given, these symptoms can continue for a week to a month or longer and may be followed by episodes of fever and chills which recur over months or years. The severity of the illness can vary depending on which species of the malaria parasite is responsible for the infection. P. falciparum causes the most serious illness. Severe falciparum malaria can cause seizures, coma, kidney failure and respiratory failure, which can lead to death. Personal Measures to Avoid Mosquitoes Female Anopheles mosquitoes bite mainly during the evening and night.