Malaria prophylaxis

Additional bite prevention measures include mosquito and insect repellents that can be directly applied to skin.

This form of mosquito repellent is slowly replacing indoor residual spraying, which is considered to have high levels of toxicity by World Health Organization (WHO).

[2] There is low-quality evidence suggesting that mefloquine and doxycycline are similar with regards to the number of people who discontinue treatments due to minor side effects.

[2] People who take mefloquine may be more likely to experience minor side effects such as sleep disturbances, depressed mood, and an increase in abnormal dreams.

[2] There is very low quality evidence indicating that doxycycline use may be associated with an increased risk of indigestion, photosensitivity, vomiting, and yeast infections, when compared with mefloquine and atovaquone-proguanil.

Other chemoprophylactic regimens that have been used on occasion: Prophylaxis against Plasmodium vivax requires a different approach given the long liver stage of this parasite.

Malaria is one of the oldest known pathogens, and began having a major impact on human survival about 10,000 years ago with the birth of agriculture.

References to the disease can be found in manuscripts from ancient Egypt, India and China, illustrating its wide geographical distribution.

From this point onwards the use of Quinine and the public interest in malaria increased, although the compound was not isolated and identified as the active ingredient until 1820.

During the First World War German scientists developed the first synthetic antimalarial compound—Atabrin and this was followed by Resochin and sontochin derived from 4-aminoquinoline compounds.

American troops, on capturing Tunisia during the Second World War, acquired, then altered the drugs to produce chloroquine.

The development of new antimalarial drugs spurred the World Health Organization in 1955 to attempt a global malaria eradication program.