Malaria hits Santa Cruz before the monsoons

MUMBAI: Even as the monsoons seem to be playing hookey from the city, mosquitoes haven't waited for the rains to launch an assault on Mumbaikars. The frenzied construction activity and incomplete infrastructure projects have caused a spurt in malaria even before the first proper showers. TOI found an alarming number of cases in Santa Cruz alone, a worrying indication of the rampant spread of the mosquito-borne scourge in the city.
Santa Cruz-based general practitioner Dr Aqil Contractor who blamed the ongoing infrastructure work near Santa Cruz station for the sudden surge in malaria cases was shocked to receive five confirmations for malaria on Saturday itself."Of my five patients, whose samples were sent for confirmation on Saturday morning, three have falciparum malaria and two have the vivax form,'' he told TOI. Worse, on Sunday, another patient who visited the clinic tested positive for vivax malaria.
According to doctors, the under-construction buildings and ongoing work on the Western Express Highway have fuelled the mosquito menace as the water pits used in construction prove to be ideal breeding sites. Physician S Sonawala who visits several nursing homes in the area said people with malaria had already started coming in and feared that the numbers would only increase in the monsoons.
Hidayat Khan, medical director of Sanjeevani Hospital in Santa Cruz (E), said 15 patients, mainly from Golibar and Nehrunagar, had been admitted to his nursing home with malaria over the past fortnight. "There are a lot of mosquitoes, partly due to the debris in residential areas and partly due to poor living standards,'' he said.
Santa Cruz is only an indication of the mammoth problem facing the health department in the coming monsoons. Civic surveillance figures showed that in the first nine days of June itself, 747 of the 15,994 persons screened across the city tested positive for malaria. If not curtailed, the city will record a much higher rate than last year's 1,687 cases.
A quick analysis of the cases showed that the numbers were much higher in areas with ongoing construction activity than the rest of the city. The Dadar-Parel stretch, for instance, reported the highest number of cases at 199. Pockets like Santa Cruz are emerging as a cause for worry with 43 cases in the first 10 days of June.