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Written By: Editorial Team | Published : June 24, 2014 7:03 PM IST
A three-member central experts team Monday visited malaria affected areas of Tripura where at least 45 people have died due to the disease and thousands have fallen ill, officials said here. 'A team of malaria experts from the NVBDCP led by its special director Awadesh Kumar Monday visited malaria affected northern Tripura and gave necessary advice to the local doctors and officials on how to deal with the outbreak,' a spokesman of the Tripura health department told IANS. The other two experts in the central team are Sukhvir Singh, joint director and Satyajit Sen, regional director of National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), under the union health and family welfare ministry. The spokesman said following Chief Minister Manik Sarkar's directive 11 ministers have rushed to the malaria affected areas. They will stay there until the situation returns to normal. The ministers will supervise the disease control programme. Over 23,000 people have fallen ill in the tribal-dominated mountainous areas of Dhalai, Gomti, Khowai, North Tripura and South Tripura districts. (Read: Are you at risk of suffering from malaria?)
At least 45 people, including 35 children, have died and more than 23,000 have fallen ill since the first week of June. Of the 23,000 ill people, malaria germ was found in the blood of 3,500 of them. All the affected people have been admitted to various government hospitals in the five districts. However, sources in the health department said the unofficial tally stands at more than 60 dead and 30,000 ill. Health and Family Welfare Minister Badal Choudhury along with medical experts has visited the malaria-affected areas several times. 'Many medical teams are working in the disease-affected areas. SOS has been sent to Tripura officials in Guwahati, Kolkata and Delhi to urgently send adequate quantities of medicines,' Choudhury said. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar in a series of meetings with doctors, officials and ministers reviewed the situation Saturday. 'Leave of all doctors, nurses and health workers has been cancelled. Health officials and field workers are visiting remote villages and making arrangements to bring the malaria-affected people to government hospitals,' Choudhury said. (Read: 6 common malaria symptoms)
A helicopter is on standby to ferry doctors and patients in an emergency. A health department official said that at least 50 health workers, including 26 ASHA (accredited social health activists), 13 ICDS (integrated child development services) and three multi-purpose workers, have been either suspended or will face action for negligence at work. Experts have advised the government to use second-generation medicines instead of traditional ones to prevent malaria deaths. All the eight northeastern states besides West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka, are highly malaria prone and several hundreds of people die every year due to the disease. According to a report of the NVBDCP, malaria claimed 1,018 lives in 2010 in India, followed by 754 in 2011, 519 in 2012 and 440 in 2013. This year, up to April, 35 people died of malaria with 11 deaths in Odisha, eight in West Bengal and seven in Meghalaya. (Read: How is malaria treated?)
What are complications of malaria?
Malaria is a serious disease that can kill people if it is not diagnosed and treated quickly, particularly pregnant women, babies, young children and the elderly. We spoke to our experts Dr Pradip Shah, consultant physician, and Dr Bela Sharma, senior consultant, internal medicine, FMRI about why malaria is a serious disease and what could be the resulting complications.
1. Cerebral malaria: In some cases, the malaria parasite can affect the brain and cause brain damage. This is known as cerebral malaria and can lead to paralysis and even permanent damage to the brain.
2. Acute Respiratory Distress syndrome (ARDS): Most common complication of malaria is respiratory distress or breathing problems. It is seen widely in children who suffer from severe malaria.
3. Convulsions:Convulsions can be associated with cerebral malaria. But high fever can also contribute to it.
4. Hemolysis: The malaria parasite is capable of destroying the RBCs completely. This lead to severe hemolyis in some patients. Hemoglobin released from the destroyed RBCs can even enter organs like kidneys and cause kidney failure. Read more about 11 complications of malaria you should know
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