First case of cerebral malaria in five years claims 30-year-old’s life

 This is the first malaria death in Delhi in five years. His situation, however, worsened and he was referred to Safdarjung hospital’s ICU department on September 2, 2016.

Based on the information shared by the Safdarjung hospital with Millennium Post, brought to the hospital at a very critical state, besides being diagnosed with malaria, he developed various other complications like kidney and heart failure which later caused his death.

Speaking to Millennium Post, the grieving kin of the victim Rajesh Sharma said: “The initial symptoms of Praveen included very high fever at 107 degrees Celsius. Later on admission at Max hospital we came to know he was diagnosed with malaria.”     

With malaria being one of the major reasons for Praveen’s demise,  Delhiites can again look at the deadly effects of the microbial disease which was long sidelined owing to is declining number of cases in the last four years  and which has coincided with the surge in cases of  the deadly dengue virus  and this time chikungunya in the Capital.

Praveen’s death comes at a time when World Health Organization has declared Sri Lanka malaria-free on Tuesday.  Presently, only the islands of Sri Lanka and Maldives share this honour in the region of South-East Asia.

Based on the information shared by the Indian Council of Medical Research, in 2016 itself there have been more than four lakh malaria cases that have been reported across the country and 119 deaths due to it.

In Delhi, however, there have been only seven cases of malaria which have been reported so far.

Explaining that the vector which is anopheles mosquito that transmits the malaria parasite is still present in large numbers in Delhi, Dr Sarla Subbarao ex-director said: “Out of six major vectors of malaria there are two vectors that are present in the city which is anopheles stephelsi and anopheles culicifacies. The parasites transmitted by them are plasmodium virax and plasmodium falciparum. While virax is a less deadly parasite, falciparum can be dangerous.”

Dr Subbarao further mentioned that anopheles stephelsi too can breed in fresh water like the aedes mosquito that causes dengue and chikungunya.

Dr Saumya Swaminathan, Director, ICMR, said that large scale migration especially from the affected areas of Odisha, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will make Delhi always susceptible of malaria parasite.