Number of malaria cases hits ten-year high as UK travellers venture to more exotic countries
The number of people needing NHS care for the deadly mosquito-borne illness malaria has hit a ten-year high with hospital doctors having to deal with more than seven cases a day.
The illness, which singer Cheryl Cole famously suffered from in 2010 after a trip to Tanzania, is brought into the country by travellers returning from exotic destinations where the disease is prevalent.
Figures from the NHS show that last year there were 2,590 occasions where a patient needed treatment for malaria, up 27 per cent in the last two years.
Blood-sucking: Malaria cases have increased as Britons venture further on their holidays
Malaria is spread by mosquitoes in tropical areas but it cannot be transmitted directly from person to person.
The symptoms include a flu-like illness, fever, shaking, headache, muscle aches and tiredness, as well as nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Patients suffering from the infection, which is the world's second biggest killer, accounted for a total of 5,127 NHS hospital bed nights.
The disease is responsible for killing an average of nine people in the UK every year.
The NHS spend on anti-malarial drugs that are given to people who are going to places where the disease is found also hit a new high last year at £4million.
'Malaria is a potentially deadly disease but is almost completely preventable.,' said Dr Jane Jones, a travel health expert at the Health Protection Agency.
'All travellers to malaria risk areas need to be aware of the risk when travelling and to take anti-mosquito precautions and medication to keep safe'.
Dr Ron Behrens, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'Although the actual number of people being treated for malaria has increased, the risk of catching has fallen five-fold over the past 10 years .
'This is because there has been a significant rise in the number of people travelling to places, such as West Africa, India and Pakistan, where malaria can be contracted and the malaria cases have stayed roughly the same.
'There are now a lot more UK residents going on trips to tropical places with a risk of malaria.'
An analysis of cases found that 75 per cent of cases were UK resident travelling abroad to visit a friend or relative, another ten per cent are foreigners travelling to the UK who go down with the illness in this country and the remainder include UK residents who may contract malaria while on holiday.
Dr Behrens said that effective eradication programmes in malaria-infected countries had contributed to the lower infection rates for UK nationals when they travelled abroad, and he added that every £1 spent on anti-malarial drugs saves the NHS £5 in having to treat victims of the illness.
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