Health Ministry links alcoholism to severe malaria risk

• The Health Ministry says drinking alcohol, especially beer, may increase mosquito bites.

• The comments follow severe malaria cases that killed four students in Kampala.

• The ministry has urged the public to prevent mosquito bites and seek prompt treatment for malaria symptoms.

The Ministry of Health has warned that alcohol consumption may increase a person's risk of mosquito bites.

Health Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi revealed that recent studies had found a link between alcohol consumption and frequent mosquito bites.

He sounded the warning last week while he sought to explain factors that contribute to malaria transmission following recent severe malaria cases that claimed the lives of four students in Kampala.

The ministry recently confirmed that two students from Makerere College School, one from Mengo Senior School and one from Gayaza High School died from severe malaria. 

Dr Baryomunsi, while addressing parliament, listed factors that make some people more attractive to mosquitoes than others, saying lifestyle and biological factors can influence exposure to mosquito bites.

"There are factors that attract mosquitoes to some people more than others. For instance, pregnant women tend to attract mosquitoes. There is also evidence that if you are consuming alcohol, especially beer, you also attract mosquitoes," Baryomunsi said.

"If I sit down with you and you are drinking beer and I am taking juice, you will get more bites. This is science."

The minister explained that mosquitoes are attracted to carbon dioxide released when people breathe.

"Mosquitoes get attracted to the carbon dioxide you exhale," he said.

He added that body temperature also plays a role.

"Secondly, when you have raised body temperature, that also attracts mosquitoes."

Baryomunsi said sweating after drinking alcohol or during pregnancy increases the production of chemicals that attract mosquitoes.

"If you sweat a lot, especially when you are pregnant or drinking, like what happens in bars, the sweat contains lactic acid and ammonia which attract mosquitoes," he said.

He added that children and pregnant women naturally produce other chemicals that also make them more attractive to mosquitoes.

"Children and pregnant women also produce other chemicals called pheromones that attract mosquitoes," he said.

The minister urged the public to continue taking malaria prevention measures, including sleeping under insecticide-treated mosquito nets, eliminating mosquito breeding sites and seeking immediate treatment whenever malaria symptoms develop.

Regarding the recent rise in malaria cases in school children, the minister ruled out fears of a new malaria strain, saying Uganda's surveillance systems had detected no changes in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite responsible for most malaria infections. 

Instead, the ministry attributed the deaths to severe malaria in a population with low immunity, noting that Kampala has historically been a low malaria transmission area.

He warned that in low-transmission areas such as Kampala, children who have not developed natural immunity can deteriorate rapidly after infection if treatment is delayed.