Civic steps may have put malaria on the backfoot
Read More:Municipal Corporation|Manisha Mhaiskar|Haffkine Research Institute|Candy Hospital|Breach Candy Hospital|BMC
MUMBAI: The "outpour" of malaria cases even before monsoon kicks in should not scare Mumbaikars. That's because, the number of patients testing positive for the condition is not alarming. If data on the Slide Positivity Rate (SPR) is anything to go by, the rate of reported malaria cases has dropped to 3.5% of the total sample collected over the past few months from 6.63% in May last year. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) can give credit to its malaria control measures for the welcome fall in rate, said a civic official.
The drop in rate the is significant considering the sample size has almost doubled. In May last year, 3,405 individuals tested positive out of the total 51,393 samples collected and an SPR of 6.63% was recorded. The corresponding figure for the same month this year is 98,700 samples and 3,336 positive cases - an SPR of 3.38%, said officials. In April last year, BMC collected 1,15,000 samples and around 1,65,000 in July.
"World over, the SPR is taken as an important indicator to provide a correct picture about the prevalence of malarial infection in the community. This shows that the alarm about malaria cases in the city is needless," said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. "We have also ensured that a lot more samples are collected to cover a spectrum of suspect cases, which therefore makes the drop in SPR even more significant."
SPR also plays an important role to gauge the disease potential among children and the success of pre-monsoon malaria control measures undertaken on a local basis.
Dr Abhay Chaudhary, director of Haffkine Research Institute at Parel, said it was indeed a reason to cheer. A state government official underlined that early detection of a case and its radical treatment are the best ways of reducing transmission of malaria.
However, private physicians are skeptical. Consultant physician Dr Behram Pardiwalla of Breach Candy Hospital said currently he is treating at least malaria two patients in a day. "At least 20% of my patients test positive for malaria." He also wondered whether BMC was taking figures of private
The drop in rate the is significant considering the sample size has almost doubled. In May last year, 3,405 individuals tested positive out of the total 51,393 samples collected and an SPR of 6.63% was recorded. The corresponding figure for the same month this year is 98,700 samples and 3,336 positive cases - an SPR of 3.38%, said officials. In April last year, BMC collected 1,15,000 samples and around 1,65,000 in July.
"World over, the SPR is taken as an important indicator to provide a correct picture about the prevalence of malarial infection in the community. This shows that the alarm about malaria cases in the city is needless," said additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. "We have also ensured that a lot more samples are collected to cover a spectrum of suspect cases, which therefore makes the drop in SPR even more significant."
SPR also plays an important role to gauge the disease potential among children and the success of pre-monsoon malaria control measures undertaken on a local basis.
Dr Abhay Chaudhary, director of Haffkine Research Institute at Parel, said it was indeed a reason to cheer. A state government official underlined that early detection of a case and its radical treatment are the best ways of reducing transmission of malaria.
However, private physicians are skeptical. Consultant physician Dr Behram Pardiwalla of Breach Candy Hospital said currently he is treating at least malaria two patients in a day. "At least 20% of my patients test positive for malaria." He also wondered whether BMC was taking figures of private
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