British tourists are putting their lives at risk by failing to pay attention to advice from
travel health clinics, experts have claimed.
According to the Health Protection Agency (HPA), tourists need to be aware of the risks of malaria, with new figures showing that 1,758 cases of the disease were reported in UK travellers last year, eight of which proved fatal.
Professor Peter Chiodini, a malaria expert at the HPA, commented: "It is a common misconception that people who were born in places where malaria is rife and who now live in the UK have immunity to malaria.
"This is not the case because they very quickly lose the partial immunity they might have acquired whilst they lived there, and people who have never lived in these countries have no immunity.
"It is particularly important that people are aware that they are at risk if they do not follow advice on malaria prevention," he insisted.
Malaria can be caught through mosquito bites and kills more than a million people in Africa each year.
Tourists are advised to visit a travel clinic for advice on the appropriate protective drugs, as well as information on any other travel
vaccinations required for the region they will be visiting.
Treatment news : 04/05/2007
