Sudipto Mondal/The Hindu

• 19 malarial deaths registered till September last
• ‘Rampant breeding of mosquitoes in Mangalore’

Mangalore, Feb 27: As many as 19 malarial deaths were registered in Mangalore city till September 2007, according to sources here on Monday.

In 2006, nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of the 65,267 cases detected in the State was from within the Mangalore City Corporation limits. As many as 29 deaths occurred in Karnataka in the same period of which 11 were from Mangalore city.

“We should put up boards at all entry points to the city saying, ‘welcome to the malaria capital’,” remarked an angry corporator at a high-level meeting attended by officials of the health, the revenue and the town planning wings as well as residents’ groups here recently. The corporator told Principal Health Secretary Madan Gopal at the meeting that not enough was being done to put an end to the menace in the city. District Malaria Officer C.M. Sudarshan said that there are two types of malaria; P. vivax (Pv) and P. falciparum (Pf). As many as 1,249 Pf cases were detected in the corporation limits till the end of September 2007.

The preamble to the action plan for control of malaria in the city, prepared by the District Malaria Office, cautions that there is “rampant breeding of malaria-carrying anopheles mosquitoes,” in the city. With 200 cases detected till September 2007, Bejai tops the list of ward-wise cases of malaria. Urwa, Kodialbail, Car Street, Falnir and Kankanady have reported more than 100 cases.

Committee

Malaria Control Action Committee, a public-private partnership venture, has been active in the area of tackling malaria. Apart from spraying chemicals in mosquito-infested areas, the committee takes up biological control of mosquito breeding. However, biological control with the use of fish is being carried out in a limited way.

Mr. Sudarshan says that the biological method, although less hazardous, has limitations. “You cannot breed guppy fish in small puddles,” he said.

Breeding sites

The action plan further states that the predominant breeding ground in the city is construction sites. Water stored in tanks, sumps, as well as water left stagnating to cure cement under construction activities posed the greatest threat.

Also, due to intermittent supply of water, people tend to store water which is then left uncovered.

S.K Ghosh, a member of the Central Malaria Control Cell, says that tender coconuts are consumed in large numbers in the region. He says that coconut shells should be cut into four pieces before being discarded. This way, water stagnation in coconut shells could be avoided. He also advises that plastic bottles and cans should be cut into two before being discarded.