Travellers warned over malaria rise

People are being urged to take anti-malaria pills when they go abroad, after figures showed cases of the disease have jumped by almost 30 per cent in two years.

There were 1,761 reports of malaria in the UK in 2010, up on the 1,495 in 2009 and 1,370 in 2008. The data was released to mark World Malaria Day and includes Britons and visitors who fell ill in the UK.

Of 997 cases where information was available, 85 per cent involved people who had not taken anti-malaria pills while on holiday or when visiting friends and family in countries where the disease is prevalent.

Over the past decade, about half of all cases of malaria reported in the UK have been in people who travelled to West Africa and India.

Four out of ten cases in 2010 were among UK residents who had travelled to Nigeria or Ghana.

Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, and it only takes one bite to become infected. Symptoms can develop within eight days of a bite, but the disease may stay inactive in the body for up to a year.