Introduction of Artimesia
One of our directors became aware of Artemisia after his first travel to Kenya in 2003. The story began this way; the Swiss tropical doctor recommended him an urgent dose of malaria prophylaxis as he wanted to travel to Kenya.
Malaria prophylaxis means that, 1 month before the holiday, during the holiday and 1 month after the holiday, one takes malaria drugs as prophylaxis. It is taken once daily and hence for 3 months it costs approximately CHF 350.-. One fears the side effects described in the accompanying leaflet inside the pack of the drugs.
After 10 days stay in Mombasa he developed signs of malaria. His host advised him to go to the hospital to have malaria test. Of course the tests were positive according to the signs, which might have resulted from a real malaria attack or just from the prophylaxis. He could not know what it really was. “For safety”, he got additionally three strong malaria during the three days.
As he arrived back to Switzerland malaria disappeared. Unfortunately other side effects were evident. For about a year he struggled with heart rhythm disorders. As a result of this, when he consulted the tropical doctor, the doctor asked him whether he did not read the leaflet inside the drugs packet. Since the potential side effects together with many others are described.
Here, we would like to add that malaria drugs from the chemical industry have also greatly improved in the last 5 years. As a matter of noting, that today in many malaria drugs, the “Artimesin” extract from the Artemisia plant is also used. Unfortunately even today these are still not affordable for many Africans.