Ask An Expert: What Drugs Are Safe To Treat Malaria In The First Trimester Of Pregnancy?

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Q: I’m a new mum and in my first trimester of pregnancy. What should I do if I contract malaria? What drugs are most safe to use?

Dr. Gboyega Oke (General Medical Practitioner) says:

Malaria, especially when severe, is one of the known causes of loss of pregnancies, especially early pregnancies and more so, in this environment. It is a heavy health burden when looked upon holistically here.

If you look around you, you will clearly observe that infants and children come down more often with malaria with more severity, and sometimes with dire consequences. As we get older, these frequencies and severity tend to diminish. The reason is that our body defense mechanisms learn to keep this deadly illness at bay as much as possible and therefore adults come down few times in a year with this illness.

With pregnancy, especially early pregnancies, we must do ALL we can to prevent coming down with malaria. Sleeping under mosquito treated net is one way to limit bites from vectors that transmit malaria i.e mosquitoes.

Medications for malaria in pregnancy will depend on the severity of the malaria, risk to the pregnancy and type of anti-malaria to be used. If proper care is not given, malaria illness alone can and often will terminate a pregnancy in the early weeks. What is not recommended is self medication or doing nothing.

You must go to your health care provider where necessary tests will be done and treatment given if need be. You must know what medications you are given, how they work and their side effects; if there are any signs you should watch out for and what you’re expected to do. Always feel free to go back to your health care provider as frequently as you are comfortable with when in doubt. Malaria is not a mild illness at any stage of pregnancy.