The rise of Malaria cases in the UK

The has been a rise in the amount of Malaria cases being reported in the UK, although this is not a disease that is found in the country, the amount of Britons being found suffering from the disease has risen by over a third in the last twenty years.

There have been nearly forty thousand cases of this particular nasty disease being reported in the UK since 1987, out of these reports around sixty five per cent have been people who have visited relatives or friends in southern India or Africa.

In a study which was published in the British Medical Journal it was stated that out of all the British tourists who visited areas where malaria is common only forty two per cent had taken the precaution of visiting their doctor for health advice and protective medication.

Study author Professor Peter Chiodini, who heads the HPA's Malaria Reference Laboratory, said: "It is vital that anyone travelling to an area where malaria is a risk seeks medical advice before their trip. 

"This is particularly true for people travelling to visit friends and relatives who have been shown to take less precautions to protect themselves than other people who are on holiday.

"There is a prevailing myth that travellers who were born in a malaria-endemic country such as Africa have some 'natural' immunity to malaria and this is simply not the case. 

"Like all other people who go to Africa and Asia they need to make sure they take their anti-malaria drugs and follow the guidelines that are there to protect everyone.

"Without taking the appropriate protective drugs and using other preventative measures to prevent mosquito bites, UK travellers are exposing themselves to a killer disease that is almost completely preventable." 

Source [Sky News]