Malaria is back to haunt the national capital after a four-year hiatus with two people losing their lives to the mosquito-borne disease within three months. The latest case is of a 30-year-old businessman who died of cerebral malaria.
Delhi had not seen any malaria related death from 2012 to July 2016, according to the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). Reports state that the long break from malaria ended when a 62-year-old woman from north east Delhi's Shahdara died in July.
Delhi is now witnessing a spike in the number of malaria cases which has rung a warning bell to the state health authorities. At least 19 malaria cases have been reported so far in the capital, according to municipal corporations of Delhi.
The most recent case of malaria-related death is of businessman Praveen Sharma, a resident of east Delhi's Mandawali. He died due to cerebral malaria at Safdarjung Hospital on Sept. 4. Sharma was admitted to Max Hospital in Patparganj after testing positive for malaria on Aug. 28.
"On the very first day itself, the hospital confirmed that my son was suffering from malaria. Doctors tried, but could not save him," Praveen's father Rewati Prasad Sharma said.
"He was suffering from cerebral malaria and died due to multi-organ failure," Safdarjung Hospital's medical superintendent Dr A K Rai was quoted as saying by Indian Express.
There is also a significant surge in other mosquito-borne diseases in the capital like dengue and chikungunya. Delhi has recorded at least 711 cases of dengue this year and the total number of chikungunya cases has reached 560.
