Malaria kills silently in times of flu

Influenza H1N1 has managed to hog the limelight this monsoon, but the real killers seem to be monsoon diseases that have claimed at least 40 lives this month. And malarial deaths top the list. 

Swine flu, till now, has claimed three lives in Mumbai. Experts think malaria is a bigger threat because more than 3,000 people have been admitted to hospitals this month. Of the 40 deaths, at least 15 have died because of malaria.

In July too malaria led to 11 deaths and 3,767 people were affected by the sting and close to 70,000 people were tested. Dengue, too, caused by mosquito bite has claimed three lives this month.

On Wednesday, leptospirosis killed one person. Dr Jayaraj Thanekar, the executive health officer, said cases of leptospirosis were common in August as many get the bacterial infection from the heavy rains in July. “But the deaths this year are not very high,” he said. Ten people have died from leptospirosis till now.

Fever, on the other hand, combined with panic of swine flu has made things worse for patients. “There are many who are running for a swine flu test even before thinking of fever as a possibility,” Thanekar said. Many patients suffering from fever or malaria were wasting precious time by waiting to get screened for swine flu, he said.

More than 5,000 people have been admitted to various hospitals for fever. On Wednesday, at least 300 people were admitted to public and private hospitals for fever. Dr Arshad Ghulam Mohammad, the vice-president of Association of Medical Consultants, said, “We are losing almost 100 times more lives because of malaria, fever, and dengue compared to swine flu. We need to have a sense of balance.”