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Hi CarlaLo

I can't speak to increased risk between the north and the south, but a friend of ours contracted malaria in Punda when we visited last December

Hope this helps

CarlaLo, this might not be what you want to hear but:

The recommendations are that no pregnant woman should put her unborn foetus at risk by entering a high-risk (or even low-risk) malarial area, In other words, if you don't have to go to such an area, DON'T!

The reason for this is that, should you contract malaria, both the disease and the medications used for treating the disease, can harm your child. If I was pregnant - and that is one of the most unlikely events in the universe - I would not risk it at all. If you had to contract malaria and your baby was harmed as a result, you would never forgive yourself!

The WHOLE of Kruger - from north to south, east to west, southwest to north-east, northwest to south-east - all of the Park is officially a high-risk malarial area from the beginning of October to the end of May. There are slight variations in risk - based on rainfall, heat, the amount of water and/or stagnant pools close by, and other factors - but the risk is universally high throughout Kruger over this time.

Mid-October may still be a lower risk than later in the summer, but this depends mainly on the rainfall, and it is unlikely that rain will not have fallen by then. If you chose to go into Kruger in mid-October, you would be shouldering the responsibility entirely for your foetus.

What you COULD CONSIDER DOING is to stay outside the Park in a suitable area, and then commute daily into the Park. Some areas, relatively close to Kruger, are low-risk areas all year round (such as Hazyview, White River, Nelspruit, Thohoyandou) and the official recommendations are non-drug measures without the official need for antimalarial drugs. However, remember that you are pregnant, so a low-risk area does not mean a no-risk area!

Other areas, such as Sabie and Pilgrim's Rest, have such a low risk of contracting malaria to be deemed non-risk malarial areas. You could stay in a non-risk malarial area during the night and commute to Kruger in the day.

The reason for your relative safety from contracting malaria in such areas is that the female anopheles mosquito - which carries the malaria (the male is useless in this regard ) - only bites from dusk until dawn, with a peak-biting range usually between dusk and midnight, and again from about an hour before dawn until sunrise.

Therefore, if you were in Kruger between sunrise and a little before dusk, the female anopheles mosquito is not yet active. As long as you drive back to your non-malarial area from Kruger with windows up (that is if it is after dusk), then you should be almost entirely safe from contracting the disease.

[The only times that people who live in a non-malarial area really contract the disease is if a female anopheles mosquito is trapped in their car, clothing, or bags when they entered a malarial area, and she both is a carrier of malaria (not all mosquitoes do) and she bites and infects you. Therefore, these last events appear to be very rare.]


Disclaimer: My recommendations here - though based on some experience and some drug knowledge - are not absolute, and further consultation with suitable health-care professionals is suggested before a final decision is taken on whether to enter a malarial area, what prophylaxis to use, and any general factors and limitations that need to be taken into account. Furthermore, I only advise based on what information is given by the person(s) entering the malarial area, but I have no control on the information given to me, and so such information could possibly be incomplete or misleading.

Fruitbat, this post might help.

Thanks for the info onewithnature!

You're welcome, CarlaLo. Hope it assists your decision-making.

Epilepsy, epileptic medication, and antimalarial medications are different for each case, and therefore each patient should be assessed separately. There are epileptic medications that are dependent on therapeutic blood levels in order to be effective (and often, if the levels move outside these boundaries, the patient fits), and one then has to be particularly careful with the type of antimalarial used, and indeed if antimalarials should be used at all. Then there are a specific set of trigger factors peculiar to each person that need to be taken into account. Some people are fine on certain antimalarials, some are not. Hence you will notice that I do not blanket-recommend on a public site like this. Some people have sent me pm's and, where appropriate, I have given my personal advice, based in knowledge and experience. However, always consult a knowledgeable health-professional who knows how to assess epilepsy (or any disease, really) in relation to malaria risk and antimalarials.

With regards to Fruitbat, I have pm'ed her some suggestions, and hope it assists her to make a sound decision.

Hi All,

We live in Nelspruit and have not been to the park for about 6 months, which is a form of torture. We now have 2 baby boys, 5 months old. I know its not advisable to visit the park with infants, but I also know that the risk of being bitten is predominantly at night, dusk and dawn. Do you think it is okay to do a day trip to the park and get out before nightfall? We will be in the car most of the time, the kids will be wearing long sleeves and will be rubbed in with baby friendly mozzie repellant. Personally I feel the risk to be so small that I am inclined to go, if we take these precautions and not overnight in the park. What are your feelings and thoughts on this?

Thanks

As far as I am aware the risk is no higher in Kruger than anywhere else in the lowveld, which includes Nelspruit. So if you are already living there I doubt the risk is any worse than that which you are exposed to everyday. But please check this with your pediatrician or GP

Hi Sybie

Your risk at home at night in Nelspruit is higher than going to the Park during daytime. Besides malaria mosquitos are only active from dusk to dawn. The same precausions you have been taking so far seems to work OK.

And I just need to ad that I believe it is very advisable to take kids to Kruger. All mine has been going since they were very small and they all loved it and never fell ill. Touch wood. When does it then become 'advisable' to take them? What is the cutt-off age?

My youngest has just turned two and she has been to five African countries already! I am not saying that you should not take precausion, but just that there are too many doom prophets out there.

Thanks for the replies, I will contact our paediatrician to get his view on the matter. He did think it was safe for my wife to visit for a day whilst preganant if she took all precautions, so I'd imagine the same will apply with the young ones.

Hi,

I'm just enquiring if the malaria is bad in March in the southern part of the Kruger because my sister is a little bit worried about taking her children in case they get bitten.

Thanks,

Samantha

We are going in December and strangely enough, the person least worried about malaria is my daughter's gyneacologist (she will be 7 months pregnant at the time)! He just told her to put on lashings of anti-mozzie stuff, keep her arms and legs covered from late afternoon and take the other usual precautions (no pills). He did say "no camping" though.
Remember that every mosquito is not a malaria carrier.

That´s true - but also remember that one bite can be enough!

In March it is still rain season and especially after the wet months January and February the risk of Malaria is higher than usual as there are more mosquitos around than in the drier months.


Why not?

Heya Samantha

When we have been in March or December, we havn't taken anything against Malaria and we have been never had trouble Just repellent before sun goes down and keep applying around the braai.
But I don't want you to take this to heart then I'm to blame that your sister's kiddies get malaria Rather safe than sorry

Hi Cheetah2111,

We've been to the Kruger quite a few times in March and never had any trouble with mosquitoes. We've just used mosquito repellent and been very careful not to go out after dark.

PS - Don't worry I won't blame you.

Thanks,

Samantha