Malaria In Pregnancy

Caring for You, Always

Prevention of Malaria

Malaria is a very common infection and can be life-threatening but it is preventable. Malaria is caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito.

Malaria infection in pregnancy carries significant risks to mother and baby.Miscarriage, stillbirth and premature labour are the main complications of malaria.

Various measurescan be taken to prevent malaria

The ‘ABCD’ of malaria prevention is as follows:

Education about the cause and symptoms of malaria (such as a fever with chills) is useful.

It is advisable to seek a consultation with Dr. Sangeeta Agrawal if you have not got your periods at all and you are 16 years of age or if you are only 14 but also do not have other pubertal changes.

Bite Prevention measures include

The anopheline mosquito has different preferred biting times in different parts of the world. But the maximum risk period is from dawn to dusk. Therefore the mosquito bite prevention measures need to be applied 24 hours a day.

Skin repellents containing 20% DEET

Have been used and there are no apparent adverse effects

Knock-down mosquito sprays:

Permethrin andPyrethroids sprays kill resting and flying mosquitoes. A can of insect spray active against mosquitoes is useful to help clear the room of mosquitoes. Pyrethroids will quickly kill mosquitoesand are the preferred ingredient in sprays, while permethrin will both repel and kill mosquitoes when used regularly in the same room.

Insecticide treated bed net

Long lasting pyrethroid-impregnated bed nets offer significant protection. Nets are now recommended by the World Health Organization for all pregnant women

Clothing that covers the body and forms a barrier from biting mosquitoes will also reduce the risk of malaria.

After sunset, long sleeves, long trousers, loose-fitting clothing and socks, regardless of colour, are recommended. Clothes can be impregnated with permethrin or permethrin or DEET can be spayed on to the clothes

Women planning pregnancy and travelling to a destination where there is a risk of contracting malaria should note that

Malaria can cause harm to the pregnancy. Malaria is associated with increased risk of miscarriage.
Prophylaxis is not 100% effective
Women should try and avoid travel to endemic places or choose an alternative destination. If it not possible to delay either the pregnancy or the travel plan, then they should take prophylaxis.
They are also advised that they should avoid getting pregnant till the drug is completely excreted from the body. Thus they can avoid any inadvertent exposure of the fetus to the drug in the first trimester.
Nevertheless, if there is an unplanned conception while taking malaria prophylaxis, it is not necessary to do termination of pregnancy,as the risk to the fetus is low.
Mefloquine is essentially the only drug considered safe for prophylaxis in pregnant travellers in the second and third trimesters. The use of mefloquine in the first trimester may still be justified in areas of high risk of acquiring falciparum malaria.