I had malaria many years ago, but there is no forgetting it. In recent years, I tried donating blood but still showed antibodies to malaria and could only do a plasma donation. I eventually gave up trying to donate blood.
I am no “sook” but malaria is formidable and heartless. I experienced extreme fatigue and lack of energy. Every bone in my body felt like it was breaking. I cannot forget the unbearable thirst and the vomiting if the water was consumed too quickly. Malaria is so cruel.
I had rigors and a temperature of 40 degrees C but felt extremely cold. The only relief was a hot bath and blankets, the fever and shivering then stopped for a day. The large dose of chloroquine made my head “woozy”, and I nearly collapsed in the hall. Later had quinine and went completely deaf for a week.
My Australian doctor said “we do not know much about malaria in this country” just as I was about to sink to the floor. “It is ONLY VIVAX” asserted the same doctor. I can now say, “what would he know.” I needed Primaquine but it was not listed in his MIMs. Thank God for colleagues on leave in a nearby town who had a supply of Primaquine. Otherwise, I probably would have continued having fevers and rigors every second day for the rest of my life.
Being sore and bloated around the waist for weeks because of the enlarged liver and spleen was no joke either. I felt exhausted for months afterwards. A blood test revealed that my haemoglobin down to eight (normal is 12 for a woman). Malaria is so cruel, it is murder.
The mental distress was terrible as well, I needed my Mum. I took a phone interview for a job when I had a raging fever, not a good idea at all. Stuffed the interview up. Should have asked the interviewer to phone back another day, but I was out of my mind with the fever, rigors, and pain. I just wanted to die.
In 2022 there were 249 million people (World Health Organization, 2023 Report on Malaria) feeling the same as I did. The majority have difficulty in accessing health care. This scourge must go, it is not fair for people to be so sick. Thank God for friends and family. Malaria does not care; it is murder.
Written by Kerre Ann Willsher, PhD
Originally published in the Malaria Vaccine Project Newsletter