Immune to malaria?

A lot of people have serious stomach issues when taking malaria tabs (Mine are terrible) so I generally suggest considering using anti mosquito creams to prevent bites rather than tabs to stop you getting the disease after a bite.
Nothing is 100%.

None of the expats I know who live here permanently use anti-malarial prophylactics. We are aware of what the symptoms are and if we get them we either go and have a malaria test, readily available at any clinic and many pharmacies, and get prescribed a course of treatment if necessary or just take a course of treatment such as Coartem, which is available over the counter from pharmacies.

As for the body adjusting, if you mean aquired immunity, some locals do build up different degrees of immunity but it is based on a lifetime of repeated exposure especially during childhood

Thanks but would you recommend the anti-mosquito creams/repellents like OFF and some of the other over the counter types you find at places like Tesco, Superdrug or Boots?

Thank you Doffcocker.

With insect repellents, the scientific evidence has always said that DEET is the most effective, and it is in many repellents, such as Life Venture, Jungle Formula, Boots Own Brand, etc. Some people don't like using it because of the solvent in it. However Icaridin (sold as Picaridin) is relatively new and is reported to be as effective as DEET but without the nasty aspects.

Natural formula repellents containing PMD (Citriodiol or Citrepel) such as Mosi Guard and Boots Own Brand Natural Repellent, Dr D and Dr Johson's (both available in Kenya) are also effective but may need re-application as the effect might not last quite as long as DEET based ones.

You can buy Ballet cheaply in local Kenyan supermarkets, it's a moisturiser based repellent with Citronella. It's quite good if you've already been bitten as it soothes as well. However,  the protection from citronella-based products does not last very long so you may have to reapply frequently, and Citronella has been withdrawn from use in Europe.

I've found both here and in Thailand that initially your body reacts to bites but does gradually, over a month or two, get used to them, so that your bites become an occasional minor irritation rather than big, red, itchy bumps.

Hello,  I am not sure what you mean when referring to your body adjusting to an area that poses a malaria threat.  If you are referring to some degree of immunity, I don't think that it does unless you have had and recovered from malaria.  If you are referring to the reaction to bites, then probably yes (although not really in my case).

In fact, due to Nairobi being at high altitude, the malaria risk is much reduced compared to the coast or lake areas and the incidence of malaria isn't high.  Simple precautions, such as closing doors and windows at dusk, using a mosquito net over the bed and dressing in long sleeves, if out after dusk go a long way to cutting the risk of being bitten.

I have lived in Nairobi and have never taken medication for malaria, as I really can't tolerate it.  None of my family take them either.  So far we have not had any problems at all.  Neither do we use insect repellants - theres just something about smearing chemicals all over me, which I don't like and actually I rarely find that they were needed.

Anti malarial medication is not well tolerated for long stays, due to the side effects, but may be considered if you travel to the coast for short periods.  Malarial medications are widely available in Kenya.