Dengue, malaria ravage Kolkata

KOLKATA: Even as the

dengue

toll rises in Kolkata, malaria, too, has been steadily making its presence felt. While the number of patients across city hospitals was very low till end-July, there has been a sudden spurt since the dengue outbreak. Experts pointed out that

malaria

cases invariably spiral on the heels of a dengue outbreak and this time it could be no different.

The reason why the mosquito-borne diseases strike in unison is that the insects responsible for spreading them often breed in the same stagnant water. “It is dangerous to assume that the malaria-triggering anopheles mosquitoes don’t breed in clean water where dengue mosquitoes or aedis egypti spawn. Some plant growth or filth collection is common in any stagnant water. This helps anopheles larvae to breed and the result is a malaria outbreak,” said Debashish Saha, consultant at AMRI Hospital,

Salt Lake

. The hospital has treated around a dozen malaria patients in the last one month, including a child who has been discharged.

So far this year, the number of dengue patients has been more than five times that of those affected by malaria. But the numbers are silently creeping up, pointed out Shyamasis Banerjee, consultant at

Apollo Gleneagles Hospital

. “While some of the dengue cases have been complicated leading to death, the malaria cases have so far been benign. But there is reason to be careful since once the dengue patient-load rises, a spurt in malaria cases is inevitable. Mosquitoes spreading both diseases breed in stagnant water which is abundant at this time of the year,” said Banerjee.