Malaria rears its head again, claims 3

BANGALORE: Three deaths and at least a dozen more cases in a span of 20 days. After a long lull, malaria has reared its head again in Bangalore.
While the first two malaria-related deaths and cases involving residents of Azadnagar area, were officially reported on March 6, the latest death — that of a Banaswadi resident — occurred on March 19.
Like in the earlier cases, the failure to accurately diagnose the disease at the early stage by private medical practitioners has caused the death.
The latest victim is a 62-year-old retired Indian Oil Corporation official J.J. Reddy, who lived in the Banaswadi area with his wife. Reddy developed fever on March 10 and his illness was not diagnosed as malaria falciparum until the day he died.
His wife, who fell ill four days after her husband, was luckily provided anti-malaria treatment in time and is convalescing at the intensive care unit at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital.
“My father was not given a single anti-malaria drug at the two hospitals he was admitted to before being brought to the Jain Hospital, despite having high fever for over three to four days. It was just sheer casualness and irresponsibility,’’ says the deceased’s son Ashok, a medical practitioner himself based in Dubai.
“In this case, the patients did not show the classical symptoms of malaria — chills and shivering with fever. There was just continuous fever, this could have thrown the doctors off track,’’ says professor of medicine Dr Arun Narayan who finally diagnosed the cases. “Time is of essence and people who show signs must not sit on it, especially if they have a history of recent travel to endemic areas,’’ he says.
Like in the cases reported on March 6, this couple too are suspected to have contracted the disease while they were staying in Mangalore, which is malaria endemic.
“We are sorry that people have died due to malaria. It should not be happening, especially in a city like Bangalore. There is, however, no local transmission.
The malaria vector, the Anopheles mosquito, is not present here but the dengue vector — Aedes aegypti — is found all around,’’ says a state health official involved with the malaria-control programme.
But the BCC should act to prevent the malaria vector from breeding with proper surveillance, sewage control and fogging, the official says. When contacted, BCC health officials said malaria vector control plans are going to be initiated from April 1.