Malaria???

All week I have been looking forward to taking a trip this weekend to Vilankulos, a beach town four hours away from Chimoio that is typical of the Mozambican coast - white sand, endless stretches of coconut palms, and the calm turquoise waters of the Indian Ocean. Ricardo and I have been planning a trip with 6 other friends to get away from this small town for a couple of days...we rented a house, bought food and drinks, and were excitedly anticipating a weekend of sunning, kite surfing, and relaxing in general. Until now...

Poor Ricardo woke up this morning with a burning fever, easily 40C (104F). Since we have no car and none of our "friends" were available to help, we had to walk a mile to the local clinic to get him a malaria test. Anytime someone here comes down with a fever and does not have any symptoms of a cold or flu, it is assumed that he has malaria until proven otherwise. We arrived at the Clínica Fátima, relatively well-equipped and clean considering the circumstances, and a doctor wearing a white lab coat over a Ronaldinho jersey pricked Ricardo's finger and ran the sample to the lab. Thirty minutes later we got the result - negative.

Unfortunately, the negative result did not mean a sigh of relief. Malaria tests are notorious for returning false negatives, and Ricardo's fever was still high even after 2 Tylenols. To play it safe, he decided to start a malaria treatment regimen with the Malarone I brought from the States. He spent the morning shaking with fever, but thankfully it has gone down a bit. If things get much worse, we'll have to find a way to get to Beira so Ricardo can go to the clinic accepted by his international health insurance. Not only am I super worried about his health, I see the distinct possibility of driving the car again looming in my future...

Sigh. This is Africa. Needless to say, we aren't going to Vilankulos.