While traveling, the most important thing you can do to protect yourself from malaria is to avoid being bitten by a mosquito. You cannot catch malaria directly from another person through casual contact; however, if a pregnant woman becomes infected, she can pass on malaria to her unborn child. Malaria can also be transmitted through blood transfusion, organ transplant, or needles or syringes contaminated with infected blood.
Protect yourself from mosquito bites by:
- Staying indoors, if possible, and being especially careful between dusk and dawn, when malaria-carrying mosquitoes will often bite
- Wearing a hat, long-sleeved shirt, and long pants when outside
- Applying an insect repellent. If also wearing sunscreen, apply sunscreen first followed by insect repellent
- Packing mosquito netting treated with the insecticide permethrin
- For more information on how to protect yourself against mosquitoes, including general protective measures, insect repellents, and insecticides, please click here.
