Malaria cases rising in N Chennai, warn govt doctors

The cases are reported more in northern parts of the city, said doctors, noting that 9/10 cases of fever cases attended to at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital was malaria.

The government hospital authorities said that the cases are not severe but added that co-infection cases were complicated.

About 50 cases of dengue have been reported in Chennai so far this year, while more than 200 malaria cases have been reported in Chennai. Though the number of cases of malaria is comparatively lesser than previous years, the numbers are rising, said doctors from government hospitals in the city. In all, 631 cases of malaria have been reported in Tamil Nadu so far.

“The number of cases of dengue are controlled and managed effectively. But malaria cases are being witnessed, mainly from parts of north Chennai. Patients are coming with synonyms of fever, diarrhoea and muscle pain. With rains and risks of increased mosquito breeding, the cases might spike,” said Dr E Theranirajan, Dean of Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital.

A doctor from Government Stanley Medical College Hospital said that nine out of ten fever cases are turning out to be malaria cases at the hospital. “Due to the pandemic, disinfection works were not carried out unlike every year in many areas where risk of mosquito breeding is more. That is one reason why we are seeing an increase in the cases of malaria this year,” said the doctor.

However, senior officials from the Health Department said that the disinfection works were in progress in the places that have been identified to be hotspots. “The dengue cases are low and even malaria cases are comparatively lower than previous years. The district deputy directors are keeping track of cases and identification of any hotspot is being done for disinfection,” said Dr TS Selvavinayagam, Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.