If necessary, use knock-down insecticide sprays. Try to clear the room of mosquitoes. Studies have showed clearly that malaria is much less likely to be severe at the time of diagnosis in patients who have taken prophylaxis than in those who have not. Patients who have conscientiously taken malaria prophylaxis are unlikely to die even if they catch malaria. It is those patients who do not take, or stop taking the drugs too early on return to the UK, that are at risk of developing the rapidly fatal form of malaria.
Malaria can kill within hours in the unprotected.
After the mosquito has bitten and transmitted the malaria parasite into the bloodstream, the parasite has a dormant stage when it hides in the liver. If you take whilst abroad and stop on returning to the UK you are unprotected. Malaria prophylaxis should be started 1 or 2 weeks before travelling. The reason for this is to determine whether or not side effects will occur, so that an alternative drug can be prescribed before you leave. Adverse effects from chloroquine and proguanil are generally mild.