Tripura: Alert issued after fresh outbreak of malaria

Agartala: Tripura health department issued a malaria alert on Monday asking people to stay away from mosquito bites following a sudden outbreak of malaria in the past few days in the foothills of Baramura and Atharamura.
According to report, as many as five people including a one-year old child and a 65- year old woman have been found infected with malaria and are now undergoing treatment at Teliamura sub-divisional hospital of Khowai district for three days.
“At least five people in Tirthamani Reangpara have been suffering from fever, and were left unattended for long days. But as the situation worsened last week, they were shifted to Teliamura hospital in critical condition where they were diagnosed malaria affected,” health officials stated, adding that reports of a similar type of fever have also come from nearby villages.
One- year old child girl Lari Rung Reang, her father Ganga Jai Reang, 3 year old girl Mari Rung Reang, her father Khajendra Reang, 13 yr-old Sunil Joy Reang, 65-year-old old woman Mosla Bati Reang and another 7–year old girl from Tirthamani Reang Para are undergoing treatment at Teliamura sub-divisional hospital at present and several others were getting treatment in the houses, officials said.
“We have sent the health extension workers in the villages with rapid diagnosing kits and asked all the health centres in the areas to organise camps and extend the service delivery round the clock. We also plan to send more medical officers with adequate medicine in the areas to prevent further spread,” said a senior health official here on Monday.
However, the villagers alleged that in the past three years, no health camp was set up. Even the authorities did not use DDT spray in those malaria prone areas despite the government identifying the helmets of these areas as prone to malaria and vector borne diseases.
The areas have records of a massive malaria outbreak in 2015-16.