Hyderabad: Fever hospital records 20 per cent rise in malaria cases in July
Hyderabad: The Fever Hospital has recorded a 20 per cent increase in the number of cases of malaria as compared to 2016. The hospital has recorded 20 cases in the first 10 days of the month. Private hospitals on the city outskirts in Ranga Reddy district are also seeing more cases of malaria.
Dr Sandeep Ghanta, consultant general physician, said, “We are seeing more cases of malaria in the first week of July. When patients do not come in time to the hospital, there is also the risk of their developing jaundice as the virus affects the liver too.”
He said if a person was suffering from very high fever for two to five days, tests must be carried out to begin the treatment.
With mosquito-borne diseases involving dengue, chikungunya and also the latest threat of Zika, it is becoming important to carry out tests.
Dr S. Shanker, Fever Hospital superintendent, said, “The protocol is to first test for malaria and dengue. If these are ruled out, other tests follow.”
He said the symptoms of malaria were high fever and chills and experienced doctors would be able to identify it and begin treatment.
“The aim is to control the fever and give the patient sufficient rest so that the body can fight the virus,” he said. A doctor said the change in climatic conditions and movement of the virus in the region was responsible for higher cases of malaria.
In 2012, there were an estimated 9.7 million cases in the country. Only 1,000 cases were reported in united Andhra Pradesh.
But there is a suspicion of under-reporting and the actual numbers are not known.
A senior doctor said, “The reporting of cases from private hospitals is not accepted by the district medical and health officers as it increases their work load. They only collect data from government hospitals, giving a sketchy picture of the actual prevalence. Malaria has been around and is striking from time to time which makes controlling breeding areas effectively a task. If that is carried out properly, the virus can be controlled.”
