Bolivia Yellow Fever Card. The Difference Between Yellow Fever and Malaria.

by BoliviaBella
(Santa Cruz Bolivia)


Bolivia requires travelers to port a yellow fever vaccination card or immunization certificate if they plan to travel to tropical areas. You should get a yellow fever vaccine 10-14 days before you travel to Bolivia. Yellow fever and malaria are not the same disease, although both are caused by mosquitos. The following are some similarities and differences between these two diseases.


SIMILARITIES:

1. Both diseases are transmitted by infected mosquitoes.
2. Neither disease can be passed on from one human to another.

DIFFERENCES:

1. Yellow fever is cased by a virus while malaria is caused by a plasmodic genus.

2. Yellow fever symptoms appear within 7-30 days after being bitten while malaria symptoms appear within 3-6 days.

3. Yellow fever causes about 200,000 deaths per year. Malaria affects about 400 million.

4. There is a yellow fever vaccine. A single dose can protect you for up to 10 years. There is no vaccine that cures malaria.

Learn more about yellow fever disease, the virus, symptoms, transmission, Bolivia yellow fever vaccination requirements, treatment, and more here.


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Jun 07, 2012
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Malaria
by: Tara

If you are planning to be in Bolivia short term in areas where malaria is present (mostly the Beni), then I would suggest a preventative medication such as mefloquine (Lariam®) or atovaquone-proguanil (Malarone®). Speak to your physician before your travel to see what is best for you.

If you are planning to live in a malaria area long-term, it is better to take precautions such as eliminating mosquito breeding areas, wearing repellent in the evenings, sleeping in a mosquito net, etc. If you show any symptoms of malaria, you can get a quick test done to determine if it is indeed malaria, and if so, what type.

There are two types of malaria in Bolivia, Vivax and Falciparum. Both are nasty, Falciparum is worse. There are also varying levels (indicated by 1 to 4 crosses) of each kind of malaria. For example, when I got sick with malaria, I had Vivax, but only 2 crosses. (I wouldn't want to experience the misery of 4 crosses as bad as 2 felt.) If it is caught and treated quickly, it helps a lot. But since most tropical diseases have similar symptoms, it can sometimes be difficult to determine which one it is.

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