Fatal fever

west bengal is sitting on a malaria time bomb. According to the deputy chief medical officer of health of Purulia district in West Bengal, Asit Biswas, over 17,000 people in Purulia are carrying the dreaded cerebral malarial parasite in their blood. Speaking at a recent seminar on the eradication of malaria, organised jointly by the Indian Medical Association (Purulia unit) and the District Scince Centre, Biswas blamed the poor quality of spray, lack of supervision and inadequate community involvement as the main drawbacks of the malaria eradication programme.

Citing figures from a recent survey, Biswas identified the malaria-prone areas as Jhalda, Kotshila, Balarampur, Manbazar-ii , Purulia-i , Muradi, Baghmundi and Arsha blocks. The survey was carried out in the 21 blocks of the district.Biswas pointed out that 35 per cent of the population in Shirkabad and Ayodhya villages in the Arsha block were carrying the dreaded 'falciparum' in their blood and 67 per cent of the people showed chronic malarial symptoms.