One Line Means No Malaria — Epoche A2
Wednesday, 25 March I woke up hot and aching. Mama touched my forehead and said the old word: malaria. When she was young, that was the whole diagnosis — a fever meant malaria, and the tablets came straight from the shop, no questions. At the health centre here in Mbale it goes differently now. The nurse pricked my finger, put one drop of blood into a small plastic tester, and said: sit on the bench for fifteen minutes. The tester has a little window. Two lines means malaria. One line means no malaria. I watched that window like a football match. One line. "No malaria," the nurse said. "A fever is not always malaria." So no malaria tablets — paracetamol, water, rest, and come back if the fever is still there in two days. The malaria medicine waits for two lines, she said, because if the test says no, the fever is coming from something else, and that something must be found, not covered. Even the village health worker has the little testers now, in a plastic box with her records. Evening: the fever is smaller. Mama gave me a bitter leaf tea as well, to be safe. Between her and the nurse, I am well looked after.