I've Had Malaria. Twice.

Most westerners, myself included, tend to have a dramatic and stigmatized reaction when they hear “malaria.” To us, malaria is this big, terrible disease that can make individuals extremely sick, but it affects people worlds away, and we don’t have any real experience with it. In reality, in Côte d’Ivoire, people get malaria the way one catches a bad cold, strep, or the flu. When westerners visit or live in countries with a high risk of malaria, we usually take malaria prophylaxis (daily or weekly medicine) to try to prevent infection. This is necessary for us because our bodies are not used to the disease. But locals in countries like CI don’t take a pill every day, instead when they get sick, they go to the pharmacy, get a course of malaria treatment, maybe take a couple days off work, and easily recover.

I take a daily pill called Malarone; however, because there are many different strains of malaria, it is impossible for one prophylaxis to prevent them all. It is also recommended to wear 100% DEET bug spray and long clothing to cover your skin. My doctors at home and the embassy doctor who gave us a health briefing all stressed how important it is to take the prophylaxis and preventative measures, and as soon as you start to feel sick, go to the doctor for a malaria test. They aren’t wrong. Malaria can be very dangerous, especially for westerners, and especially if you don’t catch it early enough.

Even taking all the preventative measures, I got malaria. Twice.

My first round of Malaria hit at 7:30 am on October 4th when I was sitting in the back of a Terminale (12th grade) classroom doing an observation. I started profusely sweating and felt extremely overheated. I abruptly got up and left, went to the bathroom, threw up, and then I started to feel better. Even though I felt better, I left school and went to the doctor.

*A tip for any expat: As soon as you know where you’re living, identify the best doctor(s), facilities, and pharmacies nearby! This way, when you get sick, you don’t have to worry about finding a good doctor.*

Luckily, we had already found a good doctor nearby, and Dominique (the other ETA with me) had been to the doctor the previous week. I walked in, told the nurse how I was feeling and what my symptoms were. Malaria in me presents as a high fever, body aches, and extreme fatigue. They took my temperature and saw that I had a 103 degree fever (yikes!). The doctor prescribed me two antibiotics for digestive infections (which could mean e.coli, salmonella, typhoid etc), one medicine for my fever, and a course of the malaria treatment that I would take should the blood test come back positive. The whole doctors visit and blood test cost under $40.00

I started feeling better the next day, I was just tired, so I took the rest of the week off of work and rested. I was soon feeling back to normal. The next week I returned to school and had a very full week of leading lessons and running the English club.

However, that weekend, I started feeling very tired again. At first I thought I was just crashing from the long week, but by Sunday morning (the 16th), I realized I was sick and went back to the clinic. This time, I had a fever of 101 degrees, but my blood pressure was extremely low. The doctors kept me at the clinic all day and hooked me up to an IV to help my fever and my blood pressure. They also gave me an injection for malaria, which is a more intense treatment for more severe cases. I would have to return for the 2nd and 3rd shots the following days.

I spent the day in a room at the clinic, on a wooden bed, going back and forth between getting the chills and being extremely hot. I won’t lie, it was not a fun day and I felt really terrible. I stayed home the whole week (there were two full days when I didn’t even go outside). I felt fine returning to work on Thursday, but my supervisor insisted that I stay home and rest, which was probably the right decision.

I now feel better, but I am still worried about Malaria returning, either if it has not been properly cleared from my system or if I get more mosquito bites. For example, this past Saturday, I got 5 mosquito bites, so I am a bit worried about the possibility of recurrence. But for now, I’m hoping that taking my malaria medication each day, drinking tonic water (a natural remedy), wearing long pants, and using bug repellent will prevent it from recurring!

Here is a picture of my IV in the clinic room. I was so sick, I couldn't grab many pictures.