8-year-old ashram student dies of malaria in Srikakulam

The deceased was a native of Kusumi village of Parvathipuram Manyam district. Three more girls, who tested positive for malaria, were undergoing treatment at the Srikakulam GGH.

Srikakulam district malaria officer PV Satyanarayana said Rasmitha joined the residential school on June 22 and she returned to her native village after four days. She came back on June 3 and contracted the fever on June 4. She did not inform the head mistress of the school about her fever, he said.

The officer said, “She tested positive to antigen and smear test and was immediately put under treatment. When her condition turned serious, she was rushed to the GGH in Srikakulam. She died there on Saturday evening.”

“The exact reason for the death is being ascertained. She was suffering from multiple ailments including congenital heart disease,’’ the malaria officer told DC.

He said, “This was the first malaria death reported from residential schools in the last five years. Mosquito nets were supplied to all the 41 tribal hostels and indoor spraying was being done at regular intervals. The last spray in this hostel was done on June 6.”

The malaria spread peaks in the monsoon season when stagnated water in public places and surroundings of homes becomes the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

According to official information, The ASR and Visakhapatnam districts reported the 3,000 malaria cases in the last one year, the highest in north coastal Andhra Pradesh, followed by Parvathipuram Manyam with 382 cases, Srikakulam 269 and Vizianagaram 266 cases.

The state government has asked all the district collectors to take urgent action to prevent vector-borne diseases.