Malaria is endemic in Malawi but Zach and I don't take any prophylaxis. Crazy? I don't think so. We live in the city next to good medical care and with quick access to rapid diagnostic tests, unlike many people living in malaria zones. So for us it's a better option to risk that we'll get malaria and get treated quickly than to be sure that we'll rot our insides with a year of malaria prophylaxis. Of course, things are a little more complicated than that but that's the gist of it. However, not being on prophylaxis means that I force Zach to get a malaria test every time he runs a fever - and quickly.
As you can tell, Zach got sick last weekend and had the pleasure of receiving a malaria test while laying in his own bed. There's a benefit to being on the same team as the malaria guy at work - he has a stock of RDTs and knows how to use them. Unfortunately the test doesn't have a spring loaded finger prick so Cary had to just smash the needle into Zach's finger (ouch!). We got some blood on the sheets after three attempts at a hard enough prick. The test came back negative, in case you're wondering. Zach was feeling better the next day and is now completely recovered.
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