Malaria

Last weekend I went to a festival in Nikki called Gaani Fete. Nikki is the center of the Bariba Kingdom and every year it hosts a large fete where all of the Bariba Kings from Benin, Nigeria and Togo come together to get drunk and ride around on horses in traditional costumes. It is one of the most interesting cultural events in Benin all year and PCVs from around Benin showed up to watch. Unfortunately I missed most of it because on Saturday morning I woke up with a fever of 99.7. We were hosted by the PCV who lives in Nikki (another business volunteer, Sam) and so I spent most of the morning lying on Sam's cot. Around noon I took my temperature again and this time it was 102.6. This was very concerning for me because I do not get sick very often so I looked up the symptoms of malaria in our medical handbook. Fever over 102: check, Chills: check, Headache: check, Nausea: check, Dry cough: check. So I called the doctor and she directed me towards Parakou where there is a workstation and a hospital and she told me to call her when I arrived. After a 2.5 hour ride down a dirt road, sharing the front seat with three other people, I arrived in Parakou very dirty and feeling like death. Kyle, the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader in Parakou was at the work station to meet me and he helped me call the doctor who had me take my temperature again (103.1) and then instructed me to take the anti-malaria drug coartem and come to Cotonou as soon as possible. That night I did not really sleep, just laid in bed in a feverish haze. I took my temperature one more time and it was 104.1, the highest I think it has ever been.

I could not get a bus ticket the next day and I was probably too ill to travel seven hours anyway so I spent most of the day lying on the couch willing myself to get better. At some point in the afternoon my fever broke and I was able to get some sleep and then all of the PCVs who had been in Nikki showed up. A couple of them were also travelling to Cotonou the next morning so the three of us took the bus down on Monday morning and I was finally able to see the doctor on Monday afternoon. By then I was feeling much better, the coartem was working and the symptoms were going away. They tested my blood for malaria but because I had been on the meds for 2 days already the test came up negative, although the doctor told me that she is sure I had malaria.

So I have been in Cotonou for a few days now, recovering and making sure that nothing else is wrong with me (I also had a bacterial infection in my intestines.) I will be headed back up to post tomorrow morning with a stop in Parakou along the way. Until next time!