Appendix 3. Emergency standby medication: traveller information leaflet
Updated 17 June 2026
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You have been advised to carry emergency standby antimalarial medication with you on your forthcoming trip to an area where malaria is present (known as a malarious area). This leaflet provides you with advice on when and how to use it.
Please keep it safely with your medication.
If you are travelling with a companion, please ask them to read this leaflet as they may be able to assist you in following its advice in the event of your becoming ill.
Incubation period of malaria
The minimum period between being bitten by an infected mosquito and developing symptoms of malaria is 8 days, so an illness with fever starting within the first week of your arrival in a malarious area is not likely to be due to malaria.
Symptoms and signs of malaria
Malaria usually begins with a fever. You may then feel cold, shivery, shaky and very sweaty. Headache, feeling sick and vomiting are common with malaria and you are also likely to experience aching muscles. Some people develop jaundice (yellowness of the whites of the eyes and the skin). You do not need to have all of these symptoms to suspect you have malaria, as sometimes fever might be the only symptom someone with malaria has.
When to take your emergency standby medication
If you develop a fever of 38°C/100°F or above, more than one week after being in a malarious area, seek medical attention straight away.
If you will not be able to get medical attention within 24 hours of your fever starting, start taking your standby medication and set off to find and consult a doctor.
How to take your emergency standby medication
First, take medication (usually paracetamol) to lower your fever. If your fever is controlled, it makes it less likely that you will vomit your antimalarial drugs. You should then, without delay, take the first dose of your emergency standby antimalarial medication.
If you do vomit and it is within 30 minutes of taking your antimalarial drugs, repeat the first dose of them (but do not repeat the paracetamol). If you vomit 30 to 60 minutes after taking the first dose of your emergency standby antimalarial medication, take half of the first dose again (but do not repeat the paracetamol).
Continue the treatment as instructed for the particular drugs prescribed for you. Please remember that this emergency standby medication has been prescribed based on your particular medical history and should be taken only by you, as it may not be suitable for others.
Once you have completed your emergency standby medication you should restart your malaria prevention drugs one week after you took the first treatment dose of emergency standby medication. If you were taking mefloquine as your malaria prevention drug and your emergency standby treatment included quinine, you should wait at least 12 hours after completing the course of quinine before you restart taking mefloquine.