Date: 21st January 2011

George Clooney recovering from malaria


George Clooney contracted malaria during a trip to Sudan earlier this month, but is now fully cured, a spokesman has revealed.

The 49-year-old is a frequent visitor to the African country to help raise awareness about the Darfur conflict

The Oscar winner has become a leading advocate for refugees desperate to see an end to decades of civil war in the African nation and he has become a regular visitor, shooting awareness films in the hope of prompting US politicians to support his efforts to bring warlords to justice.

In a new TV interview with CNN host Piers Morgan, Clooney reveals his most recent trip to Africa was his toughest yet. He was working on an initiative with Google and the United Nations, which involved the installation of satellite cameras to capture any uprising following Sudan's independence vote, when he fell seriously ill with the mosquito-borne disease.

He says, "I guess the mosquito in Juba looked at me and thought I was the bar."

Clooney told Morgan it was the second time he had contracted malaria, and joked he thinks Sudan's President Bashir was behind both cases.

He said his own experience shows how the right medication can turn "the most lethal condition" into "a bad 10 days instead of a death sentence".

Source: Press Release