Puddles of water at construction sites used to be the most common breeding grounds for mosquitoes carrying the malaria parasite in the city. In the last few months however, puddles on the eaves and terraces of lodges and hotels are new mosquito breeding sites.
The Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) and District Health office personnel have found more positive cases of malaria from hotels and lodges located in the central part of the city, namely Bunder, Market and Cantonment area. The personnel found female anopheles mosquitoes breeding in water puddles on the eaves and terraces of the hotels.
District Malaria Officer Arun Kumar S.B. said, “More instances of breeding on terraces and eaves were found in July and August this year when there was rise in the number of cases of malaria reported. There were as many as 2,084 and 1,952 positive cases of cases of malaria in July and August respectively.
Software
The new Malaria Management Software, which is being used by the MCC and the Health Department for over a year now, has helped authorities identify new breeding sites and take preventive action as soon a spossible. Tablets powered by this software, that has been developed by I Point for the Mangalore Medical Relief Society, are being used by 50 odd Multi-Purpose Workers (MPW) of the Mangaluru City Corporation.
These workers are involved in source identification and destruction. Apart from receiving inputs from MPWs, the new software gets reports of positive cases of malaria from laboratories.
Manu Kumar, MCC Environment Officer, said seven supervisors of MPWs use the new software on a weekly basis to identify hot spots of malaria cases. Apart from source reduction, the MPWs and 27 health workers carry out indoor residual spray and screening of residents for malaria in those areas. “With sustained action, we have been able to prevent a further spike in malaria cases (which is noticed once every 10 years),” Mr. Kumar said.
As many as 989, 717 and 639 cases were reported in the months of September, October and November respectively in the city corporation limits this year.
Till December 16, as many as 240 cases of malaria were reported. There were 929, 1,116 and 1,348 cases of malaria reported in October, November and December 2015.
