Recent news reports about a new vaccine to prevent malaria has piqued the interest of travelers who are looking for an alternative that is more effective and palatable than anti-malarial drugs. Malaria is a serious life-threatening blood disease that can require air medical transport for people who are infected by it.
But before contacting a doctor or visiting a travel clinic for an anti-malaria shot, travelers should be aware of the following:
The malaria vaccine is not available to the public – yet. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced earlier this year that it will begin testing the vaccine in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi in 2018. In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 40 percent of people are at risk of being infected with malaria because they lack bug spray and mosquito nets. The testing that will begin next year after successful phase 3 trial administering, includes administering the vaccine to 11,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa. The vaccine decreased mortality rates from malaria by 50 percent.
There are actually several malaria vaccines under development. The vaccine that will be tested next year, known as Mosquirix, is given in four doses in intramuscular injections. Approximately 20 other vaccines to prevent malaria are under development, but none are as far along as Mosquirix, which is also known as RTS,S/AS01.
It is hoped that a malaria vaccine will be more than anti-malaria drugs. So far, no anti-malarial treatment has proven to be 100 percent effective in preventing the disease from being transmitted from mosquitoes to humans. In addition, the frequency with which travelers must take medications such as chloroquine and mefloquine, the need to take them several weeks before traveling, and their bitter taste can lead to drug noncompliance.
The vaccine would be given in addition to other malaria prevention efforts. According to WHO, RTS,S/AS01 would be used in combination with other malaria prevention efforts such as mosquito eradiation and the use of bug spray and mosquito nets.
Because malaria is so rare in the United States, many travelers don’t even think about the possibility of contracting it while overseas. However, close to 430,000 people died of mosquito-borne illnesses in 2015, and hundreds of millions of people develop a malaria infection each year.
Symptoms of malaria infection take 10 days to four weeks to develop, long after most travelers have returned home and forgotten about mosquito bites.
Air Medical Transports for Malaria Patients
An estimated 1,500 cases of malaria are reported in the United States each year, and many are in people who have returned to the United States from malaria-risk areas. Travelers who become ill with flu-like symptoms while in or after returning home from a malaria-risk area should seek immediate medical care.
In extreme cases, people who develop malaria while traveling or living outside the United States as expatriates may require air medical transport to receive the appropriate treatment for their infection. Others choose to return to the United States for ongoing care and to recuperate from malaria.
SentinelMED provides domestic and international air medical transport to people who are sick, injured or elderly, as well as medical repatriation and medical escort services. The SentinelMED team works closely with hospital case managers to coordinate care for patients from a medical facility to a health care facility closer to their home, or to the home of a family member. In addition, our trained medical escorts are available to travel with patients on commercial airlines to help ensure their safety and comfort. This service can be a cost-effective alternative to air ambulances.
The SentinelMED team understands the complexity of delivering exceptional care to patients who need medical assistance during travel. Please contact us to learn more about the services that SentinelMED offers.
